★★★★★A beautifully written book suitable to be read as a bedtime ...
Reviewed by Amazon Customer
A Surprisingly Fluffy Bird, paperback edition
A beautifully written book suitable to be read as a bedtime story to little ones or on their own by older children. Had to read it myself before giving to my granddaughter and have since bought more copies for other young members of the family. Can't recommend it highly enough- it deserves to become a modern day classic. Look forward to the sequel.
"This is one of my favourite books. I liked how there were so many interesting animals, and I liked how they talked. It made me feel adventurous when I read it!" Grayson Chapin, age 7
The tale of a bird washed into the sea and carried on driftwood to a strange and wild shore. The soppy title is deceptive as Fluffy Bird is actually about pathfinding, fear, and winning acceptance – the things that really interest children. And adults too. From a bank of seaweed, blocking escape as the tide approaches, to the urgency of relearning to fly as a predator pounces, objects, animals, landscapes and events are a series of dimly grasped but deadly threats, until the escaped hero finally recounts them in ballad form to his new friends, like the shipwrecked wanderer Odysseus to the hospitable Phaeacians. For Phaeacia read the west coast of Scotland. Jenny Chapman writes in verse at least as well as in prose, which is well though not simply. A pleasure for imaginative kids who like stories. Mum and dad will enjoy it too.
