cover image How the Birds Changed Their Feathers: A South American Folk Tale

How the Birds Changed Their Feathers: A South American Folk Tale

Joanna Troughton. Bedrick, $14.95 (33pp) ISBN 978-0-87226-080-1

In explaining how the jungle birds became multihued, this South American folktale is itself colorful and vibrant. It was a runner-up for the Kate Greenaway Medal and is by the author/illustrator of other books in the Folk Tales of the World series. An Indian boy hunting birds one day finds a pile of colored stones. After stringing them together to hang around his neck, a transformation begins, and he turns into a fierce snake. Although his skin becomes beautifully colored, the change is somewhat grotesque. The Indian Chief wants the snake killed, and when a brave cormorant succeeds, he claims the skin as reward. The Indians also want it, but hundreds of the cormorant's friends provide aid by carrying the skin away in their beaks. Soon the bird's feathers turn bright and remain that way today. A nice addition to a folktale collection.(4-8)