Bluebird

This was a sad wordless book that told an incredible story about a lonely little boy, a bluebird, and the true friendship that they had. It tells the story of a sad boy who does not fit in at school. The book shows pictures of the little boy being made fun of and picked on by the other kids. In the first couple of pages, the little blue bird follows the little boy and watches all this unfold. The little bird begins to follow the little boy but this time doing little things to make sure that the boy knows he is there. They begin to hang out together, walking the streets, sharing a cookie, and even playing together. The little boy and blue bird buy a small boat that the blue bird sits atop of. This draws attention to the little boy and the other children at the pond begin to be nice to him. But suddenly, the little boy and the bird run into the mean kids from school. They started to try to grab the little boy’s boat and the one goes to throw a stick at the little boy. The blue bird flies himself in front of the stick, saving the little boy. The blue bird is tragically killed. All of a sudden, a multitude of different colored birds swarm around the little boy and grab a part of him and they begin to fly. They fly higher and higher until they reach the clouds. Then the little boy lets go of the blue bird and he flies away into the clouds.

I was so surprised by this book. I never thought a wordless book could have such a powerful message portrayed through the images and evoke so many emotions. I would definitely use this book for older elementary students. Teachers could use this book to discuss friendship and what that means. This book discusses a very hard topic to talk about with students: death. I do not think I would have this book lying around in my library, to be honest. It does bring up a lot of hard topics to discuss with students and it is also a very sad book. Educationally, teachers can use this book to discuss how illustrations can tell a story. Throughout the book, when the little boy is happy the pictures are lighter. When the little boy is sad and lonely, the pictures are very dark. I also would want to teach my students about how the way images are set up can be important to understanding literature. I would want to teach them words like motifs, demand, offer, and how placements of characters make a difference in the way a story is read. This is truly an outstanding wordless book- just not one that I may keep out for my students to be able to read anytime. 

Bluebird 

Author: Bob Staake

Year Published: 2013