A Feather on a Wing (Maria Speyer, UQP)
The darkness of night is a common fear for many children trying to get to sleep after lights-out. The dark can make you feel alone and separated from everyone, even if your sibling is in another bed in the very same room. The older sibling in this delightful picture book hears the younger’s worry and begins to reassure them by explaining that we are all one of many. A Feather on a Wing is a lullaby to calm the loneliness of night-time. Indeed, the book comes with the melody printed in the back with all the verses laid out for singing. So, when the younger child is told they’re just one feather on a wing, and the bird needs all the feathers to fly, that—along with other beautiful metaphors of cosmic connection—really gives a sense of belonging and being comforted by your place in the big picture. Sydney-based, Danish-born Maria Speyer offers her first book in English, and it is as gorgeously illustrated as it is written. The overarching tones of grey-blue ink are highlighted by muted turquoise and coral, helping to identify the children within each picture. While daisies in a chain, raindrops from a cloud, letters in an alphabet, stitches in a scarf and branches in a tree may all be separate things, it is the whole that they contribute to that counts.
Michael Earp has 20 years of children’s specialist bookselling experience and manages The Little Bookroom.
