Feather Mountain

by Elizabeth Olds

Vintage children's book

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

27 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather long with a mythological story about how birds got there feathers. Somehow, I doubt Elizabeth made this up herself, but is riffing off a myth she heard somewhere, probably a Native American myth as she does use the Great Spirit in here that the birds appeal too. I think I have heard this book before.

The birds are naked and an ugly pink. All the other animals make fun of them, so they must go to Feather Mountain to get their feathers and the Turkey Vulture volunteers to go and get them. The book gives answers as to why birds look the way they do. It’s a nice story, a bit too long.

Several of the pictures are black and white and they add in pictures of color here and there and the birds are pretty in color. It’s not the best artwork I’ve seen, but it is unique.

The kids attention started to wane a bit, but they liked it mostly. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the niece gave it 2 stars.

[Cassandra Gelvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do birds have feathers? This book doesn't know.

It's a weird story. I guess it's based on an Iroquois legend. Basically, once upon a time, birds had no feathers. (Somehow they were able to fly, nonetheless. We're not really sure how.) They were just always naked and pink. They didn't really mind, but when they realized all the other animals were making fun of them, they called on the Great Spirit, "as our friends the Indians do," you know, "Please give us coverings!" and the Great Spirit said, "Go get them! They're on Feather Mountain, waiting for you!" And the turkey buzzard flies to Feather Mountain and picks a very colorless suit because he can fly very far with it, and brings a bunch of feathers back to his friends, and they all argue about who should get which feathers. Then they do it methodically and pick feather coverings that will help them hide. And that's the end.

There's not really much to it. There's definitely no message to it. There's a story, and a plot, but really no point. There's no moralizing to it, but also no indication of why this happened to the birds. Just that at some point they didn't have feathers, and then they had feathers. Ta-da.

For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.

[Lorna · Rating 2 out of 5]

1952 Caldecott Honor

Favorite illustration: Full-color page where the birds are getting measured for their new looks and trying on feathers.

Favorite line: "There will be measuring, fitting, trimming, cutting, pinning, puckering, stitching, and hemming."

Kid-appeal: This is a super wordy folk-tale that helps to explain how birds got their feathers. My own daughter thought it was awful . . . while I can't think of a specific, more contemporary text that explains how birds got their looks, there has got to be a better answer than this book.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of how birds got their feathers. I am not crazy about these kind of origin stories anyway, and this one was a little too weird for me. Some things about it are neat - such as the organized way in which the birds decide who will be colorful, and who will be more dull - but other things - like the mountain itself - didn’t really work for me. I think my favorite part of the whole book is the last image which shows all the different types of birds. I loved identifying the birds in my neighborhood when I was a kid, and a chart like that would have thrilled me.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book won a 1952 Caldecott Honor, otherwise I probably never would have picked it up. It is based off a Native American tale and tells the story of how birds got their feathers. Like a lot of books from this time period, I think it's too long to hold the attention of both the reader (myself) and my 2 year old (I'm sure anyone under 5 would have trouble). The illustrations were not that interesting either. Recommended for ages 4-7, 2 stars.

[Maria Rowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

• 1952 Caldecott Honor Book •

This is… pretty weird. It’s a story of how birds got their feathers, and why they’re different colors. Just really strange. The illustrations are ok. Some of the pictures felt like they were done in a hurry. I’m not sure if the author made up the story or not, as there’s no additional information in the book.

Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion, this is one of the strangest books to get a Caldecott Honor. It is a very interesting story, and most of the illustrations are good, but I wouldn't call the illustrations distinguished in any way. The full color pages are very interesting, and some of them are very strange, indeed. Worth reading once, but I'm not sure I will read it again.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about this book until I realized it was Native Peoples tale of how birds got their feathers - all the pre-feathered birds are pretty creepy looking. The owls are illustrated with the most character throughout although the turkey vulture is the hero, and the two-page color spread of the sandpipers and piping plovers is the best. The text is probably too long for young listeners.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

1952 Caldecott Honor

I'm giving this 3 1/2 stars instead of 4 because I wasn't too keen on the illustrations until the feathers, which were beautiful. And as my co-worker and I discussed, we enjoyed that the hero of the tale is a turkey buzzard. I'm very curious as to why the author chose this particular bird...

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting picture book on the origin of birds and their feathers. This book had great illustrations as well!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the birds are pink with no covering. They are told that there is a mountain of feathers waiting for them. The turkey buzzard goes to get feathers, and the birds have a grand time choosing their feathers and painting themselves. I really enjoyed the illustrations; the colors come through well and fit the tone of the book. I especially liked the picture of the birds measuring themselves, surrounded by feathers and paint cans.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A picture book based on an Iroquois legend or a Chinese myth about how birds got their feathers. It is an interesting story but too long. The illustrations are nice but don't stand out to me. It would have been nice if it had included a short note on the background of the tale. I tried to do some research but it was inconclusive.

[Barbara Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

An older book about the legend of how the birds got their colorful beaks, legs and feathers.

[MaryAnne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations don’t begin to give justice to the Iroquois tale of how birds got their colors. Caldecott Honor Book

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Native American folk tale. Once birds were pink and had no feathers. But the other animals made fun of them, so they got beautiful, colorful feathers. This book was okay. I liked the colors, but I thought the birds cared too much what the other animals thought of them.