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Written and Illustrated by Marit Menzin
Schiffer Publishing, Ltd
July 28, 2012 / ISBN 978-0764341311
Children, Ages 4-8
Amazon
Reviewed
by Beth E. McKenzie
Several years
ago a friend of mine told me about a book she read as a child about
the language of crows and how she entertained herself by calling
them. She can still make the ground disappear under their numbers
with the call "food available" and fill the air in a flurry
of wings and cries with the call for "hawk!" She still
knows several bits of the complex language of crows and still hopes
to find a copy of the book that so enriched her childhood.
Song for Papa Crow plays down the complexity of crow life
by emphasizing another facet of intelligent beings- wanting to fit
in. In this twist on Hans Christian Anderson's Ugly Duckling
Little Crow wants to sing with the other birds but they think his
"Caw Caw" is loud and coarse. They fly away when he comes
to sing with them. Papa crow reassures Little Crow by saying that
he knows just where to find Little Crow when he hears his sweet
caw. They attend a Mockingbird show and the star gives the Little
Crow a Magic Seed so he can sing like the other birds. Things go
well for a while and then - well, Little Crow finds out that being
a Crow and singing with his family of crows is the best thing in
the world!
I loved the illustrations in this book. Each page is a collage of
textured and decorated papers featuring trees and flowers as a backdrop
for the birds of the story; in addition to crows there are chickadees,
owls, blue jays and the cardinal, my personal favorite, is particularly
expressive. The collages reinforce the story by giving the birds
emotion. You can see the joy in Little Crow's heart when he closes
his eyes and finally gets to sing with the other birds and you can
see the panic when danger calls.
Song for Papa Crow is a sweet story with a relevant message
for bird lovers of all ages. Nobody loves you like your family.
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