What's the Magic Word? FROM THE PUBLISHER
No matter where Little Bird goes, everyone wants to know the magic word. Is it "Peep-peep?" "Moo-moo?" "Oink-oink?"
How will Little Bird ever find out? Not until Little Bird returns home does he hear the magic word from his very own Mama Bird!
Kelly DiPucchio's rhythmic and noise-filled text combines with Marsha Winborn's colorful illustrations for a delightful swirl of a book.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Youngsters may well know the answer to the titular question, but the book's hero must learn the hard way. Bounced around the farm by gusts of wind, the newly hatched Little Bird seeks shelter with a variety of barnyard inhabitants. But each animal first asks to hear "the magic word" in its particular language (e.g., "Moo-moo" for the cow, "Buzz-buzz" for the bee). Consequently, whatever Little Bird learns in one environment doesn't carry over to the next. "Bow-wow?" offers Little Bird to a family of owls, having just been blown over from the doghouse. "No, no," reply the owls. "Haven't you heard? Hoo-hoo is the magic word, silly Little Bird!" At long last, the wind blows the poor chick back to his own nest, where his mother awaits with a hug and instruction: "Come in Little Bird. Get out of that breeze! And haven't you heard? The magic word is... Please!" The premise doesn't bear close scrutiny (Why would Mama Bird require a human word if none of the other animals do?) but DiPucchio (Liberty's Journey) and Winborn (A Valentine for Norman Noggs) smooth over the lack of logic. The brisk text swirls around the pages in imitation of the blustery winds, and gentle slapstick punctuates the meticulously detailed watercolors. It also helps that fluffy and ever-game Little Bird is an irresistible hero-even when he lands headfirst in the dog's water dish. Ages 3-6. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
Little Bird is whooshed from place to place by the wind. Everywhere he tries to enter he is asked for the magic word. At each place, the inhabitant offers him the word, but before he can use it, the wind whisks him away to a place where that word is not right, and he has to learn a new one. The cow tells him that "Moo-moo" is magic, but then at the beehive he is told "Buzz-buzz" is it. Of course, a dog demands "Bow-wow" at his house, while the owl tells him he must use "Hoo-hoo." Luckily he finally arrives at a nest, where his Mama Bird gives him the correct magic word, "Please." The brief rhyming verses give readers and listeners a chance to practice animal sounds while finally reinforcing the magic word we wish all children to know. Winborn supplies light-hearted ink and watercolor double-page scenes that visualize the whirling wind's whooshing trajectory containing the repetitious verse and the appropriate details of each animal's location. Little Bird is a charming yellow powder puff with feet and twitchy tail-feathers, taking each adventure with good spirit despite the knocking about of the wind. 2005, HarperCollins Publishers, Ages 3 to 6.
Kirkus Reviews
Most pre-readers know the answer to that one-and they'd better, to make sense of this breezy (in several senses) but confusing effort. A sudden wind carries newly hatched Little Chick off to a cow's stall, where his request for shelter is met with a counter-request for the Magic Word. No sooner does he learn that it's not "Peep-peep" but "Moo-moo," than that wind sweeps him away to a beehive-where the Word's not "Moo-moo" but "Buzz-buzz." And so on, past hound ("Bow-wow"), owl ("Hoo-hoo") and pig ("Oink-oink"), until Little Chick fetches up back at the nest, where his mother informs him that the Magic Word is none of the above-it's "Please." Advocates of an English-only curriculum, take note. Little Chick and his mom look like ruffled, diminutive cousins of Big Bird in Winborn's simple farmyard scenes, but there the resemblance to Sesame Street's multicultural viewpoint ends. (Picture book. 5-7)
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