IVY BIRD

From sunup until bedtime, Ivy imitates the birds she loves.

She wakes to the “tweets and cheeps” of her canary and spends the day being a bird: pecking at her breakfast, warbling, drinking “sweet nectar” from a play tea set, posing like a flamingo statue, lunching on berries, smelling flowers, collecting “shiny bits and pieces” like a bower bird, splashing in the tub, and finally hooting like an owl when it’s time to “settle in her nest.” Each page turn reveals a different activity. Racklyeft digitally combines watercolor images with printed textures to create colorful illustrations showing the imaginative redhead and her family: mum, bearded dad, and twin baby sibs. Ivy changes her costume to fit her activities and her mood—at one point sporting heart-shaped dark glasses. This Australian import features birds of that country as well as those that are more widespread; the 12 shown on the cover are described in the backmatter. Most can be found in the pages of the text, and there are even more. North American children may also recognize the cockatoo and the domestic chicken who join in her birdsong, though the kookaburra may be more obscure. Happily, the activity of pretending to be a bird is universal. Who hasn’t tried flapping their wings as Ivy does, as she waves a rainbow cloak and chases five bright rosellas?

This simply written celebration of the natural world may prompt kids to “trill and chirp” as well.