Bert the Bowerbird: The Small Bird with a Big Heart

Bowerbird Bert, drawn by Rayner (Five Bears) with endearing squiggly lines, soft washes of golden yellow and brown, and beseeching eyes, has carefully constructed a “lovely arching twiggy tower” at the start of this quirky picture book. Decorating it with a single purple flower, he “sat and waited for his bride,” writes Donaldson (Welcome to the World). Enter “haughty” Nanette, a green and blue bird with a yellow belly who, towering over Bert, insists on further tributes. In a series of spreads rendered with balletic sweeps of color, the besotted Bert scavenges not only items from nature but also a caramel wrapper, a comb, and a garden gnome. He’s soon ditched by Nanette for Claude, a wily crow who absconds with the bower’s contents—save the original flower. Bert is all but sure that loneliness is his lot when a little bird named Jean appears: “She looked Bert over once or twice/ And added, ‘You look very nice,/ And what a pretty purple flower!’/ And then.../ she came inside his bower.” It’s a visually sumptuous, classic lesson on the rewards of seeking someone who loves one for who one is. Ages 3–6. (Dec.)