Two Parrots

Iranian-born illustrator Rashin makes her U.S. debut with a spirited adaptation of a tale from Rumi, in which an imprisoned parrot plays possum in order to gain its freedom. Rashin paints the merchant who purchases the parrot as a sort of well-meaning, unintentionally suffocating buffoon, with ballooning sirwal pants, wide naïve eyes, and a mustache with a mind of its own. Rashin’s exaggerated portraits of the wily green parrot and his fellow birds are just as fun, and this straightforward retelling wraps up with a lightly delivered moral about the role freedom plays in real companionship. Ages 4–8. (June)