Eep! by Joke van Leeuwen

Eep! s is a very quirky little book that was originally published in Dutch.  It reminded me of other terrific little books that were long ago translated such as The story of Bobble who wanted to be rich.

Every aspect of this book is a delight - the main characters, the line drawings and tiny wacky touches of humour that unexpectedly appear.  Warren is a bird watcher and while he is out one day he finds a strange creature - "it was something quite different, something not mentioned in his bird book. Some thing with wings, however, and with legs and feet. But those legs and feet looked a lot like human legs and feet.  Especially the feet with their small toes and tiny toenails and smidgens of dirt underneath the toenails on the toes on the feet on the legs.  What Warren saw lying there looked very much like a human child, except it had feathers instead of clothes. And where arms should have been, there were wings, real ones."

Warren take the creature home to Tina his wife and they name her Beedy but Beedy is a wild creature who needs her freedom.  She tries to fit in with their human ways and Tina tries to accommodate Beedy's needs but one day Beedy flies away and so the adventure begins.

This book is quite hard to explain.  It reminded me a little of Skellig but Eep is a much lighter book.  It also reminded me of Angel Creek but again Eep does not have any of the darkness found in this book.  Here is a review that I enjoyed. Here is some more information about the author and her other books.

Willing readers of all ages will delight in the story’s unusual surprises.