The Mountain That Loved A Bird

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3 A gentle, loving tale of friendship, devotion and hope. A desolate stone mountain lives alone in the middle of a desert: nothing grows or lives on it. When Joy, a small bird, stops to rest on one of the mountain's ledges, the mountain is overwhelmed by the softness of the bird's body and begs her to stay. Explaining that the mountain can provide neither food nor drink, she flies on, but promises to return each spring for a few hours. Knowing that mountains live forever and birds do not, she also promises to name a daughter Joy, who in turn will name a daughter Joy and so on, so that the mountain will always have a friend. After 100 years, when the mountain is saddened by yet another Joy's departure, his heart breaks, and tears of sadness come pouring out. A stream is born, and in the following years, Joy brings seeds to plant. Eventually, the mountain's tears of sadness turn into tears of happiness, transforming both itself and the desert into green, fertile worlds. This story contains all the key elements of a folk tale: rhythm, repetition and universality. Children will feel sorry for the mountain as it despairs and will rejoice as it comes to life. Carle's identifiable collage illustrations are a perfect and powerful complement to the story, ranging from somber and gray to joyous and bright, with vibrant shades of red, blue and green. A story that children will want to hear again and again.Laura Bacher, St. Catherine's School, Richmond, Va.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
"I am Joy, and I have come to qreet you." A beautiful bird named Joy stops one day to visit a mountain. Every spring she flies high in the air, looking for the best place to build her nest and raise her children. As much as Joy would like to stay with the mountain, she must leave to continue her search. After hearing the mountain's pleas for her to stay, Joy is so touched she makes a very special promise that each spring the mountain will be visited by one of her kin. Over time the birds bring about a wonderful change in the mountain -- a change that will transform the mountain forever.


Card catalog description
A beautiful bird brings life to a lonely, barren mountain.


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Traditional folktales and Eric Carle's art form the perfect combination for young readers. In this familiar story, a mountain laments his dull existence until he is visited by a colorful bird one day. He is so impressed with her liveliness that he begs her to stay. She explains that it is impossible for her to live on a mountain with no plants or water sources, but promises that she will visit once each year. When she gets older, her daughter will continue the visits, then her granddaughter, and so on. For one hundred years, the descendents of the bird make the annual visit to the mountain. The mountain has become so obsessed with these short breaks from his loneliness that he believes he can no longer be without them; in a fit of solace, his heart breaks and leaves a tremendous crack in the mountain where tears gush down. When the bird visits the next year, she brings a seed and leaves it near the stream of tears. This happens each year until the once lifeless mountain has become a beautiful garden of trees, flowers, and streams. The mountain is delighted when the bird begins to build a nest in one of the trees, for his dream has come true and "hope ran like a song from the heart of the mountain into every tree leaf." This warm story is a perfect read-aloud. 2000, Aladdin Paperbacks, Ages 4 to 8, $16.00 and $5.99. Reviewer: Carol Lynch—Children's Literature


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