What do you think?
Rate this book
[The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time] [By: Baring, Anne] [January, 2009]
A retelling of the Sufi parable, "The Conference of the Birds", a poem written in the thirteenth century, in which the birds of the Earth face seven invisible monsters in order to save the world.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
5 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Anne Baring
24 books28 followersAnne Baring (1931-) is the author and co-author of seven books and has recently published her latest one -- "The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul". She is a Jungian analyst and lives near Winchester, England. She is passionately interested in the fate of the Earth and the survival of our species in this critically important time of evolutionary change. Her work is devoted to the recognition that we live in an ensouled world and to the restoration of the lost sense of communion between us and the invisible dimension of the universe that is the source or ground of all that we call 'life'
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 26, 2015
IDCL-Traditional Story
Category/Genre: Traditional literature/Fiction
Estimate age level of interest: 2nd-4th grade
Estimated reading level: 4th grade
Brief description: Earth calls together all of the birds from all over the world to help her with a problem. Earth tells the birds that she is dying because of her poisoned rivers and lakes, and the war that is destroying her people. In order to save her, the birds have to go through seven locations and fix the problems in each one. Their ultimate goal is to find the Great Being, who is the “life of all life”. Through their strength they earn a golden feather for their merit.
Identify two characteristics and explain how they are used in this book:
Characteristic 1 (Trad. lit.): Simple and direct plot
The plot in this story is very simple. Earth needs help, contacts the birds, birds save her. Also, there is a lot of repetition in the book to remind readers why the birds are doing what they are doing. Because of this repetition, it is clear that this was an oral story that has been passed down.
Characteristic 2: A theme or moral emerges from within the story.
In this story the moral is that unless we do something to protect Earth, we will lose it. We need to be careful about the pollution in our lakes and rivers so that Earth can remain viable for years to come. In this story there is a “call to action” feel at the end when the Great Being tells the birds they need to pass this story down for years and years so that everyone knows to protect Earth.
In what ways and how well does the book as a whole serve its intended audience?
While this story was published in 1993 you’d think it was published last month. There is a heavy push for protecting our natural resources and would pair very well in an interdisciplinary unit with science, social studies, and language arts. I think this book does a wonderful job of keeping to the characteristics of traditional literature and is a very engaging, modern plot that we hear about daily. Students will love being able to make connections between this story and current issues.
Awards: N/a
Reviews: N/a
Category/Genre: Traditional literature/Fiction
Estimate age level of interest: 2nd-4th grade
Estimated reading level: 4th grade
Brief description: Earth calls together all of the birds from all over the world to help her with a problem. Earth tells the birds that she is dying because of her poisoned rivers and lakes, and the war that is destroying her people. In order to save her, the birds have to go through seven locations and fix the problems in each one. Their ultimate goal is to find the Great Being, who is the “life of all life”. Through their strength they earn a golden feather for their merit.
Identify two characteristics and explain how they are used in this book:
Characteristic 1 (Trad. lit.): Simple and direct plot
The plot in this story is very simple. Earth needs help, contacts the birds, birds save her. Also, there is a lot of repetition in the book to remind readers why the birds are doing what they are doing. Because of this repetition, it is clear that this was an oral story that has been passed down.
Characteristic 2: A theme or moral emerges from within the story.
In this story the moral is that unless we do something to protect Earth, we will lose it. We need to be careful about the pollution in our lakes and rivers so that Earth can remain viable for years to come. In this story there is a “call to action” feel at the end when the Great Being tells the birds they need to pass this story down for years and years so that everyone knows to protect Earth.
In what ways and how well does the book as a whole serve its intended audience?
While this story was published in 1993 you’d think it was published last month. There is a heavy push for protecting our natural resources and would pair very well in an interdisciplinary unit with science, social studies, and language arts. I think this book does a wonderful job of keeping to the characteristics of traditional literature and is a very engaging, modern plot that we hear about daily. Students will love being able to make connections between this story and current issues.
Awards: N/a
Reviews: N/a
July 14, 2015
Two Characteristics of This Genre and How They Appear in the Book: 1) This folktale reflects its Persian origins. It is based on a work by a Sufi mystic and mirrors each person’s journey through life to becoming whole, but there is a timelessness to the theme as today we face global warming, conflict around the world and despair. The story offers a hopeful and important message that a few that press on can make all the difference in changing the world.
2) The story has rich language patterns that repeat with each valley that is encountered by the birds. The delicate and colorful drawings on every other page reflect the Persian origins of the story, and provide a point to pause and reflect before continuing. This is a flowing meditative book, but the monsters in each valley provide creative tension in the narrative as more and more birds die and others struggle on. The story is presented in slideshow format, and it is possible to enlarge each page of text to make it easier to read. Using the full screen and double pages options improves the reading experience as well.
How the Book Serves Its Intended Audience: This book will help older children with questions of life’s meaning. It is quest full of difficulties that can be accessed on many levels—a personal spiritual journey or simply as stated a journey to save the life of the planet. It would be a great book for discussing global issues and for studying the ancient cultures of Iran and Iraq.
Awards: NA
Links to Published Review from Amazon.com:
“There are many versions of this classic work of Islamic literature. It would make excellent reading as the language arts component while social studies classrooms are studying early Islam and Arab/Islamic Civilization. Thank heaven for amazon where you can locate long out-of-print works like this one, The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time by Anne Baring (Barefoot Books) make a great contribution that 7th graders (and even 6th graders) could read themselves!” (less)
2) The story has rich language patterns that repeat with each valley that is encountered by the birds. The delicate and colorful drawings on every other page reflect the Persian origins of the story, and provide a point to pause and reflect before continuing. This is a flowing meditative book, but the monsters in each valley provide creative tension in the narrative as more and more birds die and others struggle on. The story is presented in slideshow format, and it is possible to enlarge each page of text to make it easier to read. Using the full screen and double pages options improves the reading experience as well.
How the Book Serves Its Intended Audience: This book will help older children with questions of life’s meaning. It is quest full of difficulties that can be accessed on many levels—a personal spiritual journey or simply as stated a journey to save the life of the planet. It would be a great book for discussing global issues and for studying the ancient cultures of Iran and Iraq.
Awards: NA
Links to Published Review from Amazon.com:
“There are many versions of this classic work of Islamic literature. It would make excellent reading as the language arts component while social studies classrooms are studying early Islam and Arab/Islamic Civilization. Thank heaven for amazon where you can locate long out-of-print works like this one, The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time by Anne Baring (Barefoot Books) make a great contribution that 7th graders (and even 6th graders) could read themselves!” (less)
January 9, 2011
Children's book
Beautiful pictures, beautiful allegorical story of encountering the divine. A little long to read to little ones, but my 6-year-old was entranced by it.
Beautiful pictures, beautiful allegorical story of encountering the divine. A little long to read to little ones, but my 6-year-old was entranced by it.
March 22, 2024
Beautiful message & illustrations.
March 14, 2015
amazing book
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews