A House for Birdie

PreS-Gr 1 -Although this book is colorful, it misses its goal of helping children to understand capacity. A tiny blue bird searches for an appropriate house with the help of his feathered friends. Each one is a different shape: Spike is "tall, thin, and narrow"; Queenie is "tall, fat, and wide"; Goldie is "short, fat, and wide"; and Fidget is "short, thin, and narrow." As they explore a variety of homes, each companion finds a perfect fit for itself, but not for Birdie. In the end, the other birds build him a home that is just right. Some of the terms used to describe each bird are redundant. The author's goal is to introduce students to length, width, and height, but not all three dimensions are clearly differentiated. Additionally, "short and narrow" is reworded as "nice and thin," which jumps off the page as a value judgment after the narrative has used other descriptive terminology without any positive or negative interpretations. The simple cartoon illustrations are pleasant with endpapers covered by white outlines of a variety of birdhouses. The bright colors are attractive, and the text is accessible to beginning readers, but the explanation of the math concept isn't entirely successful.-Erlene Bishop Killeen, Fox Prairie Elementary School, Stoughton, WI Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.