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Hooray!
Hooray for Birds!
In an exuberant display of color, Lucy Cousins invites little ones to imagine themselves as brilliant birds.
Birds of all feathers flock together in a fun, rhyme-filled offering by the creator of Maisy. From the rooster's "cock-a-doodle-doo" at dawn to the owl's nighttime "tuwit, tuwoo," the cheeps and tweets of many bright and beautiful avian friends will have children eager to join in as honorary fledglings. This day in the life of birds will hold the attention of even the smallest bird-watchers, whether at storytime or just before settling into their cozy nests to sleep.
Birds of all feathers flock together in a fun, rhyme-filled offering by the creator of Maisy. From the rooster's "cock-a-doodle-doo" at dawn to the owl's nighttime "tuwit, tuwoo," the cheeps and tweets of many bright and beautiful avian friends will have children eager to join in as honorary fledglings. This day in the life of birds will hold the attention of even the smallest bird-watchers, whether at storytime or just before settling into their cozy nests to sleep.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
5 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Cousins
591 books174 followersLucy Cousins, BA Honours in Graphic Design from The Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Brighton Polytechnic, postgraduate degree from Royal College of Art, is an author-illustrator of children's books. She is best known for her books featuring Maisy Mouse but she has also published other children's books including one about Noah's Ark. She is a mother of four and lives in Hampshire, England. Her own children are the inspiration for her books whose age range is 2-8.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
February 6, 2018
Book reviewed by Stacey on www.whisperingstoriescom
A Busy Day For Birds, is a fun book aimed at young children. Each page contains a different bird and gives the child some ideas of how to mimic that bird. ‘Flap your wings and you can fly, higher and higher up, up in the sky.’ – Can you imagine a little one running round flapping their arms up and down, giggle whilst doing so?
I certainly can visualise all the little kids copying the birds, wanting to be just like them. For this reason I doubt it would be any good as a bedtime story as the actions would get the child excited, but during the day I can just see them having so much fun. I can also picture a teacher reading this book to a class and all his/her students acting like birds too.
The book comes in two different formats, paperback and board book. The paperback would be great for kids who are a little older and can flick through the pages without ripping them. The board book would be perfect for little ones who haven’t gained that skill yet, as it is sturdy.
Each page is very colourful and the text is not only large, but written in a rhyme too. Plus, there are also only a few words per bird, which to me means that this would also be a wonderful book for a child learning to read.
As well as acting out each scene, there is the chance to sit with your child and teach they about the different types of birds there are. From starlings to parrots, penguins to owls, this book is not only fun, but could be educational too.
I fully recommend A Busy Day For Birds, as it has everything a young child could want in a book.
A Busy Day For Birds, is a fun book aimed at young children. Each page contains a different bird and gives the child some ideas of how to mimic that bird. ‘Flap your wings and you can fly, higher and higher up, up in the sky.’ – Can you imagine a little one running round flapping their arms up and down, giggle whilst doing so?
I certainly can visualise all the little kids copying the birds, wanting to be just like them. For this reason I doubt it would be any good as a bedtime story as the actions would get the child excited, but during the day I can just see them having so much fun. I can also picture a teacher reading this book to a class and all his/her students acting like birds too.
The book comes in two different formats, paperback and board book. The paperback would be great for kids who are a little older and can flick through the pages without ripping them. The board book would be perfect for little ones who haven’t gained that skill yet, as it is sturdy.
Each page is very colourful and the text is not only large, but written in a rhyme too. Plus, there are also only a few words per bird, which to me means that this would also be a wonderful book for a child learning to read.
As well as acting out each scene, there is the chance to sit with your child and teach they about the different types of birds there are. From starlings to parrots, penguins to owls, this book is not only fun, but could be educational too.
I fully recommend A Busy Day For Birds, as it has everything a young child could want in a book.
June 14, 2018
This was a cute read about pretending you're a bird - any kind of bird. "What a busy bird you've been. The funniest one I've ever seen! There's quite a lot of pictures to keep the child happy while reading! :)
April 14, 2017
I am not a storytime person, but even I can picture this being a hit at storytime. Vivid, big illustrations, fun rhyming text and lots to act out. Have fun!
April 9, 2019
First sentence: Can you imagine...just for one day...you're a busy bird? Yes, a bird! Hooray!
Premise/plot: This book celebrates imaginative play...and birds. It asks little ones to imagine that they are birds. This is a story that they can choose to act out.
Scratch the ground with your feet.
Catch a fly with your beak.
Stand very tall on just one leg.
Say "cluck cluck!" and lay an egg.
My thoughts: It is bright, bold, colorful--in terms of illustrations. The text is silly, exuberant, a bit over the top. Your little one may LOVE it--you may love it for that matter. Some of Lucy Cousins' books I just love. I do. But I didn't personally love, love, love this one.
Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10
Premise/plot: This book celebrates imaginative play...and birds. It asks little ones to imagine that they are birds. This is a story that they can choose to act out.
Scratch the ground with your feet.
Catch a fly with your beak.
Stand very tall on just one leg.
Say "cluck cluck!" and lay an egg.
My thoughts: It is bright, bold, colorful--in terms of illustrations. The text is silly, exuberant, a bit over the top. Your little one may LOVE it--you may love it for that matter. Some of Lucy Cousins' books I just love. I do. But I didn't personally love, love, love this one.
Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10
December 22, 2017
This picture book encourages kids to pretend to be birds with actions like flapping their wings and standing on one leg. This would be a great storytime choice to get the crowd moving, although some actions are easier to do than others. (Laying an egg? Catching a fly or snake with their beaks? Most preschoolers I know can't do that. :P ). Cousins' illustrations are lovely, breaking down each bird into its simplest, most recognizable shapes. The brightly colored birds on plain backgrounds will be visible even to large storytime groups. The rhyme scheme is catchy and easy to read aloud.
August 7, 2017
I am notmuch of a "Maisy" fan, but oh, how I have loved some of the other books Cousins does, and wish she would do more. This is a worthy successor to Hooray For Fish!, just as beautiful, just as much fun. Highly recommended.
April 25, 2017
Cousins makes being a bird sound like fun! Should also work for story time.
April 26, 2017
great for interaction. reminding me of Eric Carle's "Head to Toe" but with birds. both girls loved doing the actions
August 30, 2018
A poetic text with bright, attractive illustrations.
March 3, 2020
Great pictures, fun rhymes. This will be a winner for preschool storytime.
April 19, 2020
Gorgeous vibrant colour, vivid with life and a glorious bouncing rhyme make this a delightful picture book to read aloud.
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May 15, 2024Storytime 2024.
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January 28, 2024Hooray for this book!
May 20, 2022
The three-year-old has had me reading this to her before bed just about every night for several weeks now. It's a good way to get the wiggles out!
June 30, 2017
So cute! I cannot wait to read this book at story time and have the children act it out! Bright, fun illustrations show birds doing, you know, bird stuff.
July 9, 2018
I thought it was great but Emmie started whinging halfway through 😂
January 16, 2017
Cousins has followed up her successful Hooray for Fish! book with a similar treatment for birds. Filled with her trademark vibrant, primitive-style illustrations, this book looks at what different birds do.
Scratch the ground with your feet.
Catch a fly with your beak.
Stand very tall on just one leg.
Say “Cluck cluck!” and lay an egg
This book introduces young children to a number of different birds but they will need to rely on whoever is reading the book to them to supply the birds’ names as these are not included in the text. However, this is a very minor point and I can see this book becoming a firm favourite with children. It will also appeal to librarians and pre-school teachers who can encourage the children to copy the actions described.
Reviewed by Penny Guy (Bookrapt)
Scratch the ground with your feet.
Catch a fly with your beak.
Stand very tall on just one leg.
Say “Cluck cluck!” and lay an egg
This book introduces young children to a number of different birds but they will need to rely on whoever is reading the book to them to supply the birds’ names as these are not included in the text. However, this is a very minor point and I can see this book becoming a firm favourite with children. It will also appeal to librarians and pre-school teachers who can encourage the children to copy the actions described.
Reviewed by Penny Guy (Bookrapt)
April 3, 2019
Fun to move along to.
April 15, 2025
Love the colorful artwork! This can be a fun interactive book with toddlers and preschoolers, as they imitate the actions of the birds in the book.
April 17, 2018
This is such a fun book and an excellent one for getting kids moving about and having some fun as well as just reading. The book is about A5 in size, has smooth rounded corners and is a board book so filled with very thick card pages of very colourful images and some text. The book is filled with rhymes on each double page as well as lots of chances for kids to get moving and have some fun.
The book starts by asking kids to imagine that for one day they are a bird, the following pages are all filled with bird activities that kids can try to do such as: shout cock-a-doodle-doo, flap your wings, and stretch your neck. Each of these bird actions and rhymes is accompanied with a fun picture of a bird. There’s no real story to the book but just various different things birds do during one day from morning until night.
I really love the pictures and they make this book so fun and appealing. Each page is filled with bold colours and birds that are very recognisable and themselves have bold outlines and colourings. I’m not sure why but the colours and the way these birds look really make this book fun. Each page is simple, not too much to distract kids from what the bird is doing and you just can’t help but love the rhyming on the pages and I think this will really make kids want to get involved.
Although this book can get kids involved in acting out bird actions, it also makes for plain fun reading and I know that the rhymes and colourful pictures would have made me want to read this over again and again when I was younger. It’s a great book and lots of fun and one I’d recommend.
-Thanks to Walker Books for a free copy.
The book starts by asking kids to imagine that for one day they are a bird, the following pages are all filled with bird activities that kids can try to do such as: shout cock-a-doodle-doo, flap your wings, and stretch your neck. Each of these bird actions and rhymes is accompanied with a fun picture of a bird. There’s no real story to the book but just various different things birds do during one day from morning until night.
I really love the pictures and they make this book so fun and appealing. Each page is filled with bold colours and birds that are very recognisable and themselves have bold outlines and colourings. I’m not sure why but the colours and the way these birds look really make this book fun. Each page is simple, not too much to distract kids from what the bird is doing and you just can’t help but love the rhyming on the pages and I think this will really make kids want to get involved.
Although this book can get kids involved in acting out bird actions, it also makes for plain fun reading and I know that the rhymes and colourful pictures would have made me want to read this over again and again when I was younger. It’s a great book and lots of fun and one I’d recommend.
-Thanks to Walker Books for a free copy.
February 10, 2018
You already know this is a book about birds, but what you probably don't know yet is how hilariously enjoyable it is to read this with a toddler. The colours are so vibrant, the birds are wacky and there are wonderfully weird noises to tuwit tuwoo and cockadoodledoo along with. If you're after a serious book with lots of focus on the different types of birds, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a light-hearted, colourful little board book then this is the one for you and your little one.
I much prefer boardbooks to ordinary paper books because they're so much sturdier - an important feature for this book which takes quite a bashing when pointing out the different birds on each page doing funny things. What I did notice (although this is likely something a toddler wouldn't!) is that the pictures actually looked quite textured. An egg, in particular, I had to actually feel the page because it looked so real (how embarrassing!).
Definitely recommended for a fun, silly read with some pretty birds and hilarious noises to impress your children with.
ARC provided free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
I much prefer boardbooks to ordinary paper books because they're so much sturdier - an important feature for this book which takes quite a bashing when pointing out the different birds on each page doing funny things. What I did notice (although this is likely something a toddler wouldn't!) is that the pictures actually looked quite textured. An egg, in particular, I had to actually feel the page because it looked so real (how embarrassing!).
Definitely recommended for a fun, silly read with some pretty birds and hilarious noises to impress your children with.
ARC provided free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
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February 7, 2020Hooray for Birds!
Picture Book
Hooray for Birds! is a playful book that teaches toddlers and preschoolers about birds. There is no plot, just simple text that succinctly describes in simple terms what different birds are doing. I love that this book starts out asking the reader to imagine they are a busy bird. That opening line reaches out and automatically engages children and helps them become an active participant while reading the book. Each page is filled with sounds and activities that children can mimic - cock-a-doodle-dooing like a rooster, pecking like a woodpecker, swimming like a swan, catching a fly with their beak. The pictures are simple but very bright and fun to look at. The book provides the opportunity to ask questions about the colors of birds, where they live, what they eat, if they can fly, etc. This book would also be a fun book to reference after visiting a park or zoo. Looking through the book you could point out birds that you saw and talk more about what the birds were doing in their natural environment.
Picture Book
Hooray for Birds! is a playful book that teaches toddlers and preschoolers about birds. There is no plot, just simple text that succinctly describes in simple terms what different birds are doing. I love that this book starts out asking the reader to imagine they are a busy bird. That opening line reaches out and automatically engages children and helps them become an active participant while reading the book. Each page is filled with sounds and activities that children can mimic - cock-a-doodle-dooing like a rooster, pecking like a woodpecker, swimming like a swan, catching a fly with their beak. The pictures are simple but very bright and fun to look at. The book provides the opportunity to ask questions about the colors of birds, where they live, what they eat, if they can fly, etc. This book would also be a fun book to reference after visiting a park or zoo. Looking through the book you could point out birds that you saw and talk more about what the birds were doing in their natural environment.
August 7, 2025
An adorable book for a child learning to read or for story time.
The large font is easy to read and every page is printed in bight bold colours. The images are fun and colourful, but not distracting from the text. Young children will have a great time following along and pretending to be like the birds in the book. Even better if you read it to them before naptime as the last command is to say goodnight like an owl and the endpage at the back of the book show all the birds sleeping.
You can make the book more engaging by having your child guess what kind of bird is on each page (maybe research their favourite one) and its simple illustrations lend itself well to a painting project for older kids (paint your favourite bird or another animal in the same style, what action does the image "tell" you to do?)
Overall, a cute and engaging book to read with your kids.
The large font is easy to read and every page is printed in bight bold colours. The images are fun and colourful, but not distracting from the text. Young children will have a great time following along and pretending to be like the birds in the book. Even better if you read it to them before naptime as the last command is to say goodnight like an owl and the endpage at the back of the book show all the birds sleeping.
You can make the book more engaging by having your child guess what kind of bird is on each page (maybe research their favourite one) and its simple illustrations lend itself well to a painting project for older kids (paint your favourite bird or another animal in the same style, what action does the image "tell" you to do?)
Overall, a cute and engaging book to read with your kids.
November 29, 2017
Hooray for birds is a book about various types of birds and the sounds the make. The book is written so the reader can at along with the text and pretend to be a bird. The illustrations are all full bleeds and every page features a different bird with various bright colors that leap off the glossy paper. Sometimes the text is written on one side and the illustration is across the page break. All the text is written in rhyming style which makes it a lot of fun to read out loud. I enjoyed this book especially because I can see using it in a classroom setting as a stretching exercise or yoga type activity for kids to work out pent up energy.
December 27, 2018
toddler/preschool (birds, actions)
punchy text with bird actions that invite the readers to wiggle and stretch along, combined with Lucy Cousins' bright, cheery illustrations make for a winning storytime share.
"Flap your wings and you can fly, higher and higher, up, up in the sky.
Hop, hop, hop!
Peck, peck, peck!
Now swim along and stretch up your neck. [picture of swan]"
Note that this might be too active for my packed crowds, and probably works best with older toddlers and preschoolers who are pretty good at following directions:
"..then swoop like a starling.
swoop up and down,
swoop round and round."
punchy text with bird actions that invite the readers to wiggle and stretch along, combined with Lucy Cousins' bright, cheery illustrations make for a winning storytime share.
"Flap your wings and you can fly, higher and higher, up, up in the sky.
Hop, hop, hop!
Peck, peck, peck!
Now swim along and stretch up your neck. [picture of swan]"
Note that this might be too active for my packed crowds, and probably works best with older toddlers and preschoolers who are pretty good at following directions:
"..then swoop like a starling.
swoop up and down,
swoop round and round."
Want to read
February 7, 2020{Picture book}
Lucy Cousin is one of my favorite children’s authors, and she did her magic again with this book. The author takes our readers on an adventure with some exciting and playful birds. The reader will want to join in on all the fun. They will want to flap their wings or hop, hop, hop, just like their feathered friends. This is an excellent book for an interactive read aloud, the listeners will have a hard time sitting still in their seats. Not only does this book show the young readers different types of birds, but it also shows the different kinds of bird behavior in fun filled way. The young children will also love the bright illustrations and the rhythm of the story.
Lucy Cousin is one of my favorite children’s authors, and she did her magic again with this book. The author takes our readers on an adventure with some exciting and playful birds. The reader will want to join in on all the fun. They will want to flap their wings or hop, hop, hop, just like their feathered friends. This is an excellent book for an interactive read aloud, the listeners will have a hard time sitting still in their seats. Not only does this book show the young readers different types of birds, but it also shows the different kinds of bird behavior in fun filled way. The young children will also love the bright illustrations and the rhythm of the story.
August 2, 2017
Reviewed by Mary Langer Thompson for San Diego Book Review
Lucy Cousins, creator of the Maisy series and award-winning artist, invites children to use their imaginations and to be a bird for a day with "Hooray for Birds!" Each colorful page tells what one can do as a bird, such as " Wake up and shout 'cock-a-doodle-doo!"
You can read this entire review and others like it at San Diego Book Review.
Lucy Cousins, creator of the Maisy series and award-winning artist, invites children to use their imaginations and to be a bird for a day with "Hooray for Birds!" Each colorful page tells what one can do as a bird, such as " Wake up and shout 'cock-a-doodle-doo!"
You can read this entire review and others like it at San Diego Book Review.
September 15, 2017
Engaging, detailed illustrations in Cousins' signature black-outlined style accompany a rhyming, interactive book encouraging the reader (or listener) to adopt various bird behaviors (hop, peck, stretch your neck, stand on one leg); however, some of the behaviors require more imagination such as "catch a wiggly snake," and "lay an egg." This could be fun, but at the end, the reader is encouraged to cuddle with "mama in your nest," which works for children with accessible mothers and a place to sleep that feels like a nest but is not appropriate for a classroom or public library read-aloud.
May 17, 2022
Cousins' signature illustrative style pairs with interactive text in a home run storytime book. Readers are encouraged to imitate recognizable birds with sounds and movements in short, rhyming text. I love that even though the bird illustrations are simplified, you can generally recognize these as actual bird species. Only a couple are named in the text, such as starlings - one thing that I would have loved to see is a key at the back naming all of the birds, but that's minor. This is such a great option for group reading.
October 11, 2017
HOORAY FOR BIRDS is a vibrantly colorful celebration of our feathered friends, which encourages kids to act like a range of birds both familiar and exotic. This would make a fun read-aloud!
On another note...I was very glad to see the happy hen and rooster on the pages as well. I think so often, people see chickens as simply ingredients or production units...without stopping to think that hey, these are birds as well--with cool bird abilities and behaviors of their own.
On another note...I was very glad to see the happy hen and rooster on the pages as well. I think so often, people see chickens as simply ingredients or production units...without stopping to think that hey, these are birds as well--with cool bird abilities and behaviors of their own.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews