How To Heal A Broken Wing

Sometimes a book just captures your heart.  A couple of weeks ago we were delighted to find “How To Heal A Broken Wing” on the shelves at our local library.  This book was shortlisted by the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) this year, and went on to win Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category.

Prominent Aussie author Bob Graham tells the story of Will, a young boy who nurses an injured pigeon back to health.  The book is light on text and heavy on visual literacy, which means much of the story is hidden in the illustrations.  At only three my daughter loves poring over the pages, asking questions about what is happening and pointing out new discoveries in the pictures.

Although the story appears simple, this is a book with depth.  As well as depth of illustration it has depth of theme and depth of characterisation.  It is not really a book about a pigeon, but rather a book about our current society, lack of empathy and detachment from the natural environment.  As a teacher I can see countless ways to explore this book with kids from three right through to seven or eight.  Children of different ages will get different aspects of this book, which is great if you’re reading aloud to your kids.

As I mentioned, this story has stolen my daughter’s heart.  We have read it over, and over, and over.  And then read it again.  When we did art at home this week she painted a bird with a broken wing.  (Her bird has red body, green beak/wings/eyes and is flying at you…)  When we did playdough she made items from the story.  Everywhere we have gone lately she has been on the lookout for injured birds.  And then one night this week she asked if she could pray about it.  Feeling like a gold-star Christian mum (I should have known right there…) we sat down together.  She prayed, “Dear God, please could a bird break its wing so that I can find it?  Amen.”

*sigh*  That wasn’t quite what I had in mind.  Needless to say we’ve had a bit more of a chat about it!!

If you are yet to discover the book at your library (probably because some three year old is so in love with it she can’t bear to return it…) just go and buy it.  It’s worth every penny.