Bush-turkey Needs a Friend
by Ann Göth
DETAILS:
Publisher: Natural Publishing
Publication Date: November 13, 2023
Format: eBook
Length: 34
Read Date: February 7, 2024
What’s Bush-turkey Needs a Friend About?
This is the tale of Tom, an Australian brush-turkey (aka bush-turkey), and his quest to meet someone like him–or at least enough like him to befriend him.
It doesn’t go well for him, most birds deciding that Tom’s a bit too strange for them. But he carries on, grows up, and eventually meets another bush-turkey and, yes, makes a friend.
The Author
Göth is a Science teacher and a Brush-Turkey researcher, who has written a book for adults on the Brush-Turkey. So she comes at this with a dual expertise and a mission to teach accurate lessons about the bird.
It reminded me of Valerie D. Johnson’s 1 2 3 Count with Me on Granddad’s Farm, where you get an expert on an area coming along to teach young readers (in her case, math). We could use more things like this in the world (they probably exist, I just need to learn about them).*
* If I was in a snarkier mood, I’d say that we need more things like this than children’s books written by celebrities. But I’m not in that kind of mood.
Let’s Talk about the Art for a Minute
Eh…this is the biggest stumbling point with this book. It’s pretty obvious that Göth is not a professional illustrator, and won’t be anytime soon. This is not to say that the art is bad–it’s just not good. It’s fine. A little inconsistent, a touch sloppy, but good enough.
I don’t know that a young reader is going to have a problem with it–I don’t see most of them being as snobbish as we grown-ups can be.
How is it to Read Aloud?
It’s a simple, straightforward style–no rhyme, no rhythm, no tongue-twisters, no made up words. That can be a nice change of pace, really. The nice short sentences should work well for reading aloud or coaching someone through early sentences on their own.
So, what did I think about Bush-turkey Needs a Friend?
This was a pretty nice book and a good introduction to a bird I’d like to know a little more about.
The life lesson isn’t a particularly novel or groundbreaking one–but it’s one that needs to be repeated throughout a child’s life (and many adult lives, too), so bring it on. Add that to the ornithological lessons, and this is a good read.
Disclaimer: I received this book from BookSirens in exchange for this post and my honest opinion.
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