A little bird told me...

4 hours ago

2 min read

illustration of front cover of picture book entitle a little bird told me by Honeysuckle Harebell. with a young fluffy bird foreground with daisies — **Front Cover**

An introduction to my new picture book story

Garden birds are wonderful. They are a wonderful way to watch wildlife up close. I have loved watching the birds since I was little. I remember my Mum telling me there were toothbrushes on the lawn. I misheard - there were two Thrushes on the lawn , but for quite awhile after that I thought birds were called toothbrushes. Luckily, this little story isn’t called ‘a little toothbrush told me’ although that does sound quite catchy!

A little bird told me…

I called the story ' a little bird told me' because it was inspired by a certain little bird I came to know in my garden. A few years ago now I noticed a Robin who was having trouble singing. I watched him every day. He would open his beak but nothing came out. All he could do was make a tutting sound. I called him ‘Tut Tut’ and I thought maybe I would write a little story about him one day.

Other characters

In the story, there are my original watercolour illustrations of birds that I have seen in my garden. One in particular, is a Blackbird I call Oliver, some of you may know him from my social media posts. He lost his tail to a Sparrowhawk but I managed to save him and we have been friends ever since. His tail grew back, but permanently splayed out. He is quite an age now for a Blackbird, at least 5 or 6 so I am glad I managed to get him a cameo part in this story.

page of book with illustration of little bird and a Blackbird in a garden with bird table and peacock butterflies with words — **One of the pages**

What it's about

A little bird is on a journey to discover who he really is. Along the way he meets other birds in the garden and he discovers that everyone grows up at their own pace, that everyone is good at something and everyone can get along together even if you're different.

I have tried to write a story that also encourages children to get to know the wild birds they can see every day, to be aware of these wonderful creatures with which we share our world and maybe if they listen, a little bird will tell them their story too.