Book Review: The True Story of Stellina by Matteo Pericoli

The True Story of Stellina
Written and illustrated by Matteo Pericoli
Ages 3 and up
Picture Book

This is the story of a baby bird who falls out of its nest by a busy New York City street. When a passer-by, Holly, notices the baby bird, she waits a long time to see if the mother will come for it. When its mother doesn't come, Holly takes the little bird and gives it a home in her apartment, where it stayed the rest of it's life.

Storied Cities reviewed this book a week or so ago, and due to my girls' on-going bird fascination, I ordered it from the library. They really enjoyed this book. I liked the simple text that worked very well for reading aloud. And in the manner of good books, it led to discussions of why (or why not) Holly didn't let the bird go free once it could fly, and what  they would do if faced with a similar situation. (They didn't come to any firm determination, since they were apparently able to see the logic of both letting nature take its course and keeping the baby bird safe, 'though I'm sure in their heart of hearts they would have done the same as Holly.) Their only other observation was, "Mom why does he (the author) keep saying 'my wife, my wife' all the time. We know it's his wife!" I found that a distraction myself, but having kept that to myself, was interested that they had the same reaction. Bottom line: we liked it; we've read it more than once since we checked it out from the library.

My thanks to Storied Cities for turning us on to this book.

Read other reviews at:
Through the Looking Glass
Mother Reader

Book published by Alfred A. Knopf
Copyright 2006
29 pages
This copy borrowed from the library.