Review: Jeremy

When he was only a few days old, a tiny pink bird with a big grey beak was brought inside by a family cat. The family cared for the little bird, who had fallen out of a nest in a palm tree near their home, and named him Jeremy.

In the following weeks, Jeremy the Kookaburra’s feathers grow and he learns to fly as he is cared for by the family. Finally, Jeremy is big enough to fly up into the palm tree to join two other young kookaburras. He is reunited with his own family.

Jeremy is the debut book for author Chris Faille. Based on a true story, children will love following Jeremy’s development from a defenceless little featherless bird with eyes firmly closed, to a juvenile bird ready to return to his natural habitat. Danny Snell’s illustrations are lovely. The armchair on the cover looks so comfy that I wish I could curl up there myself.

With the straightforward text, lovely illustrations and simple story about raising and caring for a young bird, Jeremy is ideally suited to preschool and kindergarten classrooms as well as reading at home. I am already planning to get a copy for friends who have kookaburras as frequent visitors to their yard. I know that their children will love learning about how the baby kookaburras grow in the first weeks after hatching.

The book endpapers list interesting facts about this iconic Australian bird and there are teachers’ notes available.
 
Title: Jeremy
Author: Chris Faille
Illustrator: Danny Snell
Publisher: Working Title Press, $24.95 RRP
Publication Date:  July 2013
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781921504402
For ages: 4 - 6
Type: Picture Book