Little Bird
By Germano Zullo and Albertine
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is from Switzerland. He is married to Albertine (Zullo).
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is from Switzerland.
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Originally published in 2010.
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5-6 according to Amazon. I think it could be enjoyed by older kids and adults.
A man drives his truck up to a cliff’s edge. Unable to go any farther, he opens the back door of his truck and a flock of birds flies out. Then he notices that one small timid bird remains. Surprised and delighted, the man acts kindly towards the bird and an intimacy develops. After sharing his sandwich with the little bird, the man tries to show the bird that he should fly off and join his friends. The man’s comic atttempt at flight deepens the encounter between these two very different creatures. After a while, the bird flies off and the man drives away, but then, in a surprise twist and a strongly lyrical moment, the reader is shown something unexpected and new.
I’ve got two versions of a lesson plan for this book. When I read it with 4-year-olds I focus on the actions and the moral of the story. So basically we say simple things, do a bit of a prediction and laugh at the funny man, count the birds and talk about their journey. Where would we want to go with the birds.
To me though this book is more of a crossover book and with 12-year-olds I discuss art. I love it that it looks silly and a bit babyish, but if we look closer we see that it is really smart despite the weirdness.
The book jacket seems simple and at the same time complicated. I love the design and how the names of the creators look like wheels of the van.
The brightness of the illustrations hits us from the very first page. The sand burns you. It jumps off the page.
We can see no characters at first, it’s only the sky and the land. I am thinking it’s a battle between two different worlds. It probably doesn’t matter who the characters are. It’s about being different and not being able to be together and at the same time feeling bound together. Nothing can stand between them. The horizon is so high that we can see only a slither of the brightest blue against it. The land is taking over. It’s so big, thick and yellow that it feels heavy and overwhelming. The horizon in picturebooks is a thing. They can pop the line bang in the centre, blur it completely or even tilt. It always makes people respond emotionally. Why is there so much land? Why is it so empty and abandoned? Though there’s a road and if there’s a road there will be someone or something going up it.
The van. Another patch of colour. The way it’s positioned, it makes us feel that it is driving away from the sky and going deeper into the sand land.
We turn the page over and see that the only change is the van is closer now to the edge of the picture. It’s dangerously close to the edge as we can’t see what’s ahead.
And then it all changes. Because some days are different. The van is by the edge of the cliff and we can see that the sky is taking over. It’s like a battle. There’s no more room for the land. The sky is in charge now.
Slowly, it starts unravelling. We are watching the pictures as if it’s a cartoon or an old film. He opens the door, puts his right foot on the burning ground, gets out of the van, goes towards the back. What’s he up to? He opens the back door and lets a bird out. Why would he have a bird in the hold? What’s going on?
And then we see that the bird has a few friends who happily join the sky. And the sky keeps taking over. We can see how it’s leaning on the horizon. It seems like they are trying to topple the land over, being so heavy on it.
One could almost believe that one day is just like another.
The art is so clear and precise that my students said it’s fun because there’s no text and it’s still is very clear, like the book is a movie or a cartoon. But there is some text in this book. It’s scarce but it is there. The beauty of it is in the gap between the text and illustrations. They work together but they can be apart and they are astonishing as they are. You can read it aloud before you introduce the book and see what the kids say. It’s about small things that happen. They are tiny and seem to be meaningless but they are not. They are enormous.
Are these words about kindness? Are they about our routine that we often don’t even think about but it is our life? What are those things to be discovered?
The man is so kind to the bird. He first tries to encourage it tot fly away but the bird won’t budge. And then the two creatures that belong to different worlds - one to the sky, one to the land - they just sit down together being content. The man doesn’t want to give up and tries to teach the bird to fly. His comical attempt makes kids break into laughter. And it works. The bird leaves. As it takes off the skyline drops down a bit again to give it more space.
Tiny.
On the one hand, it looks like Germano and Albertine are talking about tiny things that happen. On the other hand, the man and any man is tiny in this big world. He might be big and strong where he belongs, but he is too tiny for the sky.
Tiny things seem enormous. When the little bird joins its flock, the man watches it with a soft smile. It’s such a little thing to help a tiny creature and encourage it. It didn’t cost any real effort. But the little bird joins it’s family and it’s an enormous thing for it being back to where you should be. Something can be absolutely meaningless and small for us but it’s huge for someone less under the sky.
The book then reverses. If we look it, it’s like steps. It starts with the van driving along the road, then it stops at the age of the cliff, the man puts his foot on the floor, gets out of the car. Now it goes back. He puts a foot in, gets in the car, drives off. Back to square one, the whole day might get forgotten.
The small things are treasures.
The bird is back. Why? Why leave and then come back?
One is enough to enrich the moment.
The land is gone. The sky takes over completely. And his life changes forever.
