Some Birds

by Matt Spink

Overview

Some birds are big, some birds are small, and some birds are just incredibly tall.
Some birds are caged, but most birds are FREE. A much better life, I’m sure you’ll agree!

Swooping and squawking, flapping and fluttering, there are many different kinds of birds in the world, all with their own special traits and abilities. Some Birds celebrates the colors and shapes of beaks and feathers with a rollicking, rhyming text and intricate design. The lively illustrations with a mod, retro feel are full of style and mesmerizing detail.

Some Birds is a lovely gift that will have children and adults tweeting for more from a promising new talent in the design world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419720703
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 11.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Matt Spink is the creative director at a leading United Kingdom advertising agency. He lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

02/22/2016
Colorful, barrel-chested birds with extravagant plumage in geometrical shapes star in this visually rich offering. “Some birds twitch,/ some birds tweet,/ and some birds swim fast with webbed flipper feet,” reads a typically upbeat rhyme. It’s less an introduction to specific birds than a freewheeling poem, though readers will likely recognize penguins, an eagle, and a woodpecker that makes holes “with a rat-a-tat-tat!” There’s a hint of 1970s-era psychedelia in the birds’ feathers; with thick outlines and jewel-like colors, they resemble kaleidoscope patterns. Spink also emphasizes how being a free bird beats the alternative: “Some birds are caged,/ but most birds are free./ A much better life I’m sure you’ll agree.” Ages 3–5. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Spink’s colorful, bulbous birds look as if they’ve flown out of a stained-glass window in this concept book for young readers...Neutral backgrounds showcase the birds’ vibrant plumage, and the colorful text is often printed to mimic a bird’s movement or characteristic."

Booklist

"Spink’s colorful, bulbous birds look as if they’ve flown out of a stained-glass window in this concept book for young readers...Neutral backgrounds showcase the birds’ vibrant plumage, and the colorful text is often printed to mimic a bird’s movement or characteristic."

Booklist

02/01/2016
PreS-Gr 1—While the mosaic birds in Spink's debut picture book waddle, hop, and pop (when they eat too many worms), they look out at readers with wide-eyed stares. Their feathers are replaced with intricate patterns, but their colors hint at their identity. The red, white, and black bird that is rat-a-tat-tatting a hole in a tree is a woodpecker, and the large blue bird with the white head is an eagle. The rest of them could be wild songbirds, pet birds, or ducks, but the one thing they have in common with humans is revealed at the back of the book, and it will resonate with all readers. VERDICT Storytime audiences will be encouraged to guess the rhyming words and imitate the actions of the birds; an engaging addition.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada

School Library Journal

2016-01-09
Simple rhymes in bold print cavort among kaleidoscopic images of birds. "Some birds are BIG, / some birds are small," begins a book with equally entertaining art, layout, and text. The bird whose size description rhymes with "small" is, of course, "incredibly tall," its fanciful, partridgelike bulk balanced atop legs that stretch over two pages, requiring readers to hold the book vertically and read words sideways from the bird's feet up. All the birds are fashioned from bold, dark lines, their bodies filled in with patterns and colors that evoke 1960s mod album covers. Not all are generic: it is obviously a bald eagle that "soars high" and a pair of penguins that "waddle." Despite geometric beaks and big, cartoonish eyes, the birds look alive and seem to have personalities. Beginning readers will enjoy the Seussian ease of the rhymes, and younger children will soon have the short text memorized. The light tone makes it clear that "some birds eat worms until they go pop!" is not a fact but a joke that allows both a rhyme with "hop" and a sly illustration of scattered feathers without any visible bird. Toward the end, there is a stark contrast between a lone, caged bird—looking quite forlorn—and a flock of joyous, multicolored birds, illustrating the sole didactic couplet of the text. Endearing and great fun to share. (Picture book. 2-6)

Kirkus Reviews