Ruffle, Coo, and Hoo Doo

Wonderful poem about the "Owl and Parrot Tree." A photo of the actual tree is at the back of the book. Colorful rhyme about how Ruffle and Coo (parrots) came to live in the same tree with the owl, Hoo Doo.

This delightful story is told in four-line rhyme that might bore some adults but will charm the 4-8 year old children for whom it written. The illustrations are beautiful, both colorful and engaging, and depict the animals with reasonable accuracy.Based on a true story, the book relates the tale of a mated pair of South American Monk Parakeets (also called Quaker Parakeets) who find themselves captured and sent abroad with other Monk Parakeets as part of the pet trade.That is, until a shipping crate breaks open in New York City and they find themselves liberated. Ruffle and Coo soon find themselves in Bridgeport, Connecticut. There, they find a suitable tree and begin to homestead, building their unique stick nests alongside their fellow escapees. (Monk Parakeets are the only parrots in the world that build an enclosed stick nest - looks like a squirrel nest on steroids.)The tale then focuses on how the parrot colony survives a hurricane and the cold of a New England winter and what happens when a pair of Great Horned Owls (who raise a chick named Hoo Doo) takes over one of the Monk Parakeet nests.Unfortunately, the book fails in some aspects of environmental education. The drawing of the Monk Parakeets shows them in a tropical jungle which is not where they occur and shows them living alongside Marmosets, Coral Snakes, and Ring-tailed Lemurs. Very nice, except that Marmosets are strictly tropical and don't live in the same regions in which Monk Parakeets live. Coral Snakes and Lemurs aren't even found in South America. Coral Snakes are native to North America and Lemurs are found exclusively in Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa.That aside, it depicts the Monk Parakeets and their introduction to North America pretty accurately. Acts of predation are also included, so the gritty reality of life in the wild isn't ignored.Ruffle, Coo and Hoo Doo is published by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) as part of their Animal Tales book series. The HSUS Animal Tales foster animal protection and environmental preservation in young children. All are based on true stories and a portion of the book sales is donated to HSUS.