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There is a bird on your head!

2007

  • juvenile fiction
  • elephants
  • counting
  • birds
  • swine
  • gerald (fictitious character : willems)
  • juvenile fiction / animals / pigs
  • juvenile fiction / humorous stories
  • juvenile fiction / animals / elephants
  • fiction

The story

Gerald the elephant discovers that there is something worse than a bird on your head-- two birds on your head! Piggie will try to help her best friend.

What it’s like

Spare white pages with thick, flat-coloured cartoon figures and plenty of empty space, the kind of picture-book look where a single grey elephant and a pink pig can fill a spread. The voice is pure dialogue, short clipped lines in speech balloons, so the pacing is brisk and bouncy, with little beats of pause built in by the page turn. The mood is gentle, warm and giggly, a low-stakes comedy of worry that never tips into real unease. It suits a lazy afternoon, a read-aloud with a small child on your lap, or a quick palate-cleanser when you want something light in twenty minutes. Its emotional register is affectionate and playful: a fretful friend and a loyal helper, with the friendship itself carrying the warmth. There is no violence, no fear beyond mild comic panic, and nothing frightening or mature. It is for parents and early readers, and for adults who want something sweet, funny and uncomplicated.

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