The Dead Bird

by Margaret Wise Brown, Christian Robinson (Illustrator)

Overview

This New York Times Best Illustrated Book is a heartwarming classic from the author of Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, with stunning, evocative art by #1 New York Times bestselling and multiple-award-winning illustrator Christian Robinson (You Matter and Last Stop on Market Street). 

This classic picture book by beloved children’s book author Margaret Wise Brown is gorgeously reillustrated for a contemporary audience by the critically acclaimed, Caldecott Honor winning illustrator Christian Robinson.

One day, the children find a bird lying on its side with its eyes closed and no heartbeat. They are very sorry, so they decide to say good-bye. In the park, they dig a hole for the bird and cover it with warm sweet-ferns and flowers. Finally, they sing sweet songs to send the little bird on its way.

A beautiful book to share with children beginning to grapple with loss.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060289317
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Margaret Wise Brown, cherished for her unique ability to convey a child’s experience and perspective of the world, transformed the landscape of children’s literature with such beloved classics as Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Other perennial favorites by Ms. Brown include My World; Christmas in the Barn; The Dead Bird; North, South, East, West; and Good Day, Good Night.

Date of Birth:

May 23, 1910

Date of Death:

November 13, 1952

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Place of Death:

Nice, France

Education:

B.A., Hollins College, 1932; Bank Street College of Education

Website:

http://www.margaretwisebrown.com

Editorial Reviews

Robinson stays true to the intent of the original text and illustrations but elegantly improves upon it with cinematic storytelling.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Brown takes a direct approach to a difficult subject, suggesting how community rituals provide solace. Robinson concludes with a wide-angle view of growing trees and the children flying a kite, implying a return to carefree fun and putting a poignant distance between the tiny figures and readers.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Robinson’s sensitive new mixed-media art, with its personality-rich quartet of young people…and its city-park setting, elicits the children’s deeply felt emotions and their actions to honor the bird’s memory.” — Horn Book Magazine

“The original text is timeless, and the modern, cheerful illustrations will help resurrect this classic for a new generation of readers.” — ALA Booklist

“Robinson thoughtfully pays homage to his predecessor while bringing something new to the telling...a lovely book befitting its lineage.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

The original text is timeless, and the modern, cheerful illustrations will help resurrect this classic for a new generation of readers.

ALA Booklist

Robinson’s sensitive new mixed-media art, with its personality-rich quartet of young people…and its city-park setting, elicits the children’s deeply felt emotions and their actions to honor the bird’s memory.

Horn Book Magazine

★ 2016-01-09
Robinson reimagines the 1958 story originally illustrated by Remy Charlip, in which children find a dead bird and offer it a send-off through ritual and song. Brown's lovely, gentle, and reassuring text remains the same. The children find a still-warm bird and experience its loss. Knowing it will never fly again, they create a grave—wrapping the bird in grapevine leaves and burying it with sweet-ferns and flowers. Both innocent and wise, the children sing about the bird's death and cry before inscribing a stone to place on top. Robinson stays true to the intent of the original text and illustrations but elegantly improves upon it with cinematic storytelling. His setting is a lush urban park filled with trees, bridges, and ponds, framed by a city skyline. And his characters are diverse in gender and ethnicity but universal in their emotions, curiosity, and playfulness (one wears fairy wings and another a fox costume). While simply rendered, with basic shapes and few brush strokes, the design of the spreads and the progression of images are spatially sophisticated. As in his illustrations for Matt de la Peña's Last Stop on Market Street (2015), the artist's characters and environments have a realness to them, perhaps because Robinson portrays them with such respect, love, and ease. A story about the importance of ritual and the ability for renewal, itself magnificently renewed by Robinson. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews