Budgie written and illustrated by Steven Woolman

Easy Fiction Treasure

Lou finds a lost budgie in her garden. She brings him inside because he is hurt. Over time Lou and her little budgie become the best of friends but then one day he escapes out the back door. Lou whistles around the neighborhood. She makes a flyer but it seems her little friend is lost forever until one day a lady arrives with a box. Inside there is a budgie but is he really the one Lou lost?

Budgie is a simple story and it is easy to read but it packs a strong emotional punch. It is easy to relate to Lou and to sympathize with her love of this little bird and the tremendous loss she feels when he is gone. I love junior novels that include this extra depth packaged in simple language, a larger font and perfect illustrations.

Budgie is from the Solo series. I was looking for a book to share with some of my reading students. We read a NSW School magazine article about keeping budgerigars as pets. I started our session by sharing my favourite Bob Graham title - Pete and Roland. 

Next week we will take a look at Budgie. Just as I was preparing to use these books with my reading group a wonderful item appeared in our Sydney Morning Herald showcasing the photography of Leila Jeffreys.  When I saw this photo I knew it would be the perfect way to introduce this activity.

Image source: https://tinyurl.com/yy9uprgp  Sydney Morning Herald

Solos are a fabulous series for newly independent readers. I especially love Hot Stuff, Green Fingers and Sticky Stuff.

Steven Woolman was an exceptionally talented Australia illustrator. He sadly died in 2004. The most striking aspect of his illustrations were the variety of styles he used. Here are some of his books:

CBCA Picture book of the Year, 1995 The judges described it as a book of “landmark significance [which] breaks new ground in its unity of text, picture and book design.”

I love to read this book aloud to Grade 4 - it is a book with a powerful story and it uses a very rich vocabulary. The mystery of Caleb's identity will keep your listeners guessing right to the end.

This book is essential reading especially now as we focus on global warming and young activists such as Greta Thuberg.  This illustrations in this book are spectacular. They are based around the idea of pieces of stained glass.

Pete and Roland by Bob Graham

Books with emotional narratives really appeal to me. Bob Graham has created a masterpiece in this little gem. Pete finds a small, blue budgie in his yard very early one morning. You can feel his quiet wonder, excitement and anticipation as the bird flops onto his hand and he takes it to show his sleepy parents. When they put Roland, as they now call him, into a cage the emotions change to shock and sadness. This little wild bird should not be caged. But do not fear Bob Graham quickly solves this by having Pete leave the cage door open so Roland can fly around this wonderful old fashioned house with its wallpaper, picture rails, lamps and mirrors. We laugh when Roland “accidentally bites Peter’s Aunty quite badly on the finger” and are thoroughly enjoying the antics of this little bundle of feathers when Bob Graham packs another emotional punch telling us Roland is gone. Looking into the illustration you can clearly see what has happened, someone has left the window open.

I always stop at this point in the story and talk about the decisions authors make. Bob Graham could end this story here on a very sad note but he doesn’t. We don’t need the fairy tale ending that Pete and Roland live happily ever after, just a little hope that both can be happy. The last two pages of this book are the real masterpieces of this writing and illustrating. You need to look very carefully at the final illustration to see what has happened.

I am very sad to say this book, like so many others in my blog, is now out of print. I own a copy which I found in an old school reading store room and I always include it in my reading program with children in Years 1 and 2.