Flock

by Sara Cassidy

In this fantastical story, a flock of feathery friends show up for a feast!

Lunch turns into bird food when a little girl starts feeding birds at the bus stop. First, a pigeon she names Serious comes pecking, and then Fancy and Sleepy gather to gobble up the offerings. But what happens when more and more birds want to join in on the feast? And what are all these fantastical birds doing in the city, anyway?

This delightfully outlandish story by Sara Cassidy, beautifully illustrated by Geraldo Valério, creator of My Book of Birds and Busy, Busy Birds, explores a child’s wonder, a parent’s preoccupation and an ordinary afternoon that escalates into a surreal adventure.

 

Key Text Features

illustrations

 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Genres: Picture Books, Birds, Canada, Childrens

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2022

About the author

Sara Cassidy is an award-winning Canadian author of 20 acclaimed books for children and teens. Her early novel GENIUS JOLENE won the 2020 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Her middle-grade novel NEVERS was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award in Young People's Literature and the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Two novels appeared on Kirkus's Best Middle Grade Books of 2018 and 2016: THE GREAT GOOGLINI and A BOY NAMED QUEEN.

She is the author of the highly praised picture book FLOCK, and the wordless graphic novels KUNOICHI BUNNY and HELEN'S BIRDS, a 2021 Canadian selection for the Silent Books Collection (IBBY). Her board books include I MAKE SPACE, about creating boundaries, THE SUN IS A PEACH and THE MOON IS A SILVER POND, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Sara lives on Vancouver Island and loves to visit classrooms over Zoom/Skype/Teams. sarascassidy@gmail.com

Reviews

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mom is totally oblivious when her young daughter starts to feed the many different birds that land near them, as they wait for their bus. She gives them fun names based on their actions or appearance, like Hoot the owl, Dotty the speckled bird, and Wild the turkey. The more she feeds the birds, the more appear, and what will happen then?

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a little girl waits for the bus with her mom, she spots a pigeon and shares her lunch with it. As the busy bus stop fills up with people, the birds flock to her. Somehow the birds become as abundant and as different as the passengers that come and go. Bold illustrations provide a different scene on every page. This unusual adventure will keep little ones busy as it is full of colorful characters and animals.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Meg Shields · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is joy in the surprises and anticipation, questions and moments that no one usually sees - looking forward to seeing what I find on my walk tomorrow with a different curiosity!

[Norshakila Makmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

a simple sweet story.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always looking for books too read to my little sister that are funny and fun to read. This one was great she told me to rate it as many stars as I can VERRY silly