Bowerbird Blues (Aura Parker, Scholastic)
Bowerbird Blues follows a feverishly determined bowerbird on a mission to collect not just all the fabulous blue items he can possibly find but also something else he can’t quite pinpoint. The bird’s desperate compulsion drives him to attempt to gather the blues of the ocean and the sky to add to his stash, his frenzied excitement matched by a plummet into despair when he can’t secure these treasures and feels something is still missing from his life. Adult readers will easily recognise the yearning as one for a mate, even if children might not—and even though the bird itself seems oblivious to why he is building and decorating a bower with such urgency. In fact, the character seems to embody some of the fascination surrounding this magnificent species, with the precise evolutionary basis for their remarkable courtship behaviours not entirely understood. Parker’s watercolour illustrations manage to simultaneously encompass a broad palette while also revelling thematically in a glorious world of blues, to very pleasing effect, and the language makes use of emotional and figurative phrasing to keep the tone rich as well as playful. The book captures the curious passions of bowerbirds engagingly, and if the ‘romantic’ aspect might be missed or misunderstood by young readers, the story will likely still satisfy, with the bird’s ultimate success in finding a mate also standing in for the broader joy of human friendship and companionship.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, an editor and writer, is a bookseller at The Hobart Bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
