A Poet's Bird Garden

Montenegro, Laura Nyman. A Poet's Bird Garden. Farrar Straus Giroux. 2007. Natalie's bird Chirpie flies out of her cage and alights in a tree. Natalie runs to tell her adult friend Monica who calls a multicultural group of poets to say, "We need you to come RIGHT AWAY." The poets arrive, and one of them says, "You need not worry. Haven't you heard? There are oodles of ways to lure a bird." One poet stands on his head and says, "Wiggle like a worm, another says, "sing like a bird and make a happy melody", while a third twists his body and says, "When she gets homesick, she'll come down from the tree". Finally, one poet suggests that they make a garden for Chirpie, "If I were Chirpie, fancy and free, what beauty would beckon me down from the tree? A garden, my friends made especially for birds," Everybody works together to create a beautiful garden that has bushes, water and seeds; although a hidden cat temporarily keeps the birds away, he is quickly scared away. This is a lovely quiet ode to the beauty of nature and joy of freedom.

Inspired by Vincent van Gogh's classic painting "A Poet's Garden", A Poet's Bird Garden is a picturebook about a young girl whose pet bird Chirpie gets loose. Poets try to help her lure Chripie out of the tree by offering tasty seeds and fresh water, or doing cheerful dances, but Chripie won't come down and all other birds are staying away too! At last the girl discovers the furry feline prowler who is the real reason the birds are staying away. The expressive color illustrations add the perfect touch to this charming story, told in simple verse.