Doctor Bird: Three Lookin' Up Tales From Jamaica

by Gerald Hausman, Ashley Wolff (Illustrator)

Complemented by playful illustrations, an engaging collection of three trickster tales from Jamaica features Doctor Bird, a hummingbird gifted with wisdom and magical powers, who teaches Mongoose, Mouse, and Owl some important lessons.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published May 18, 1998

About the author

Gerald Andrews Hausman is a storyteller and award-winning author of books about Native America, animals, mythology, and West Indian culture. Hausman comes from a long line of storytellers and educators, and has published over seventy books for both children and adults.

Reviews

[Olivia Han]

It is a good book about how this doctor bird goes through 3 different stories and teaching the reader a life lesson. I think that you should read it if you like fiction with a little bit of magic.

[James Govednik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an attractive "trickster tale" picture book that will appeal to ages 8 and up for silent reading, but it will also find a willing audience for younger children as a read-aloud. Here some of the "tricks" of the tricksters have an unusual twist, in that the trickster, the streamer-tailed hummingbird known in Jamaica as "Doctor Bird, delivers life lessons that lead to the betterment of those involved, rather than leaving them deprived of something, as in many trickster tales. If you consider the dilemma of reading trickster tales that seem to celebrate skipping out on work or using others for selfish gain, it would be good to include some positive tales like these. Some of the tales included promote keeping a positive attitude or "being one's self," instead of pretending to be something you're not. The Caribbean setting would fit nicely with appropriate Social Studies or Science units.