8 August 2010 ELSIE'S BIRD by Jane Yolen & David Small, September 2010, Philomel, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-399-25292-1

"Like emptiness in harmony

I need someone to comfort me

Homeward bound"-- Paul Simon

My goats are such liars! 

It's barely past noon -- four more hours to go until feeding time -- and while I am trying to enjoy this beautiful picturebook, the goats are taking the opportunity to loudly announce to the entire neighborhood that I am, once again, absolutely starving them to death.

The goats do not require a lot of commitment these days.  After the first twenty-five years of goatkeeping I'd had enough of milking goats twice a day and ceased doing so.  Besides, nowadays I am vegan anyway, and don't need the milk.  But no matter what else is going on in my life or in the world, I can walk out the door or pull up the driveway in my pickup and the goats will all come charging over to the corner of the pasture nearest the house, calling me over to say hi to them (And, oh, might you bring us some grape leaves and a bunch of windfall plums while you are at it).

I cherish the little corner of the world where I live, but such a significant part of what transforms this land into my home is those dumb goats.

And that is what comes to mind as I read and re-read ELSIE'S BIRD, Jane Yolen and David Small's poetic picturebook story of a young girl who, in a era long past, moves westward across the country with her widowed father.  Leaving the civilized world of Boston far behind, the pair head for the seemingly empty vastness of the prairie in Nebraska.  And it is Elsie's canary, Timmy Tune, whom she has brought along with her, who brings comfort to the young girl; who turns the foreignness of the sod house into a home; and who, ultimately, is the one to coax Elsie out of her shell and persuade her to fly.

As many of us are so fortunate to know through our own experiences, caring for an animal -- whether it be a cat, a dog, a guinea pig, a bird, a horse, or even a turtle -- can be a truly wondrous experience that offers priceless therapeutic effects for people of all ages.  Yolen and Small do such a great job here of portraying that love for and fellowship with a pet.

ELSIE'S BIRD is also very much a haunting song of the prairie:

"And then, oh then -- sitting there

by the burbling creek,

in the green-gold grass,

under the sun-washed sky,

Elsie finally heard the voices of the plains. 

She heard wind rippling the grass.

She heard long vees of geese

spinning out cries like thread;

the creaking call of sandhill cranes;

the bubbly larkspur far out over the tall stalks."

Having spent yesterday hiking amidst California redwoods and enjoying that luxury of being far from strip malls and commuter traffic (and laptops), I am salivating over David Small's paintings depicting the deep, endless sea of grasses, ferns, flowers, and unobstructed blue sky in which Elsie finds herself.  America the beautiful, indeed.

This is a truly lovely book in which to get lost and find one's self.

Richie Partington, MLIS
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