Reviewed by Susan Hancy
Birdie is no ordinary penguin: she is the chosen one
whose singing in the evening turns on the lights that the zoo animals see in
the night sky. But when Birdie catches a cold and has a throat so sore it feels
like it’s “clogged with dry seaweed”, the animals are in a panic because Birdie
can’t sing to turn the light on.
Lo and behold, the stars and moon still come out to
shine. Birdie is confused and she questions her purpose in life. She wants to
know if she is good at something else, so she tries to help the elephant, giraffe,
and monkeys with their everyday tasks, but to no avail. Birdie is sad and the
other animals are equally as sad – they miss her singing. She agrees to sing to
them again and realises that, even though her singing was never needed to light
up the sky, it has always been needed to light up the moods of her friends.
My kids loved the illustrations by Lauren Mullinder,
especially the indigo hues in the night scenes where the pages sparkle like the
stars and the moon. They also loved Birdie’s journey of self-discovery and were
happy that she realised her talent. This story prompted us to have a great
conversation about how and why we can only see the stars and moon at night when
they’re not overpowered by the light from our sun.
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