'A lost little budgie brings together a young neighbour and his seemingly grumpy older neighbour in this touching Little Gem from award-winner and Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho. Mr Buxton is always having a go at Miles and his friends for climbing the trees outside their tower block. Miles thinks he’s just a grumpy old man but when he finds a lost little budgie, Miles also discovers that he and Mr Buxton have more in common than he could ever have imagined.'
Budgie is the latest Little Gems release from children's book publisher Barrington Stoke, one that focuses on the love that people have for animals, and how that can bring us together.
The story centres on Miles, a young boy who's out playing with his friend one day, but gets chased off from climbing a tree by Mr Buxton, an elderly man who lives nearby. Miles runs home, and watches out of his window as Mr Buxton wanders around the park, waving a big black bag in the air.
The next day Miles heads outside to play and spots something unusual, a bright green and yellow budgie. The small bird seems to be having a tough time flying around, so Miles is able to pick up the bird and bring him home. His mother agrees to let him keep the bird, who Miles calls Pippin. Miles and Pippin bond over the rest of the day, with the small bird flying around the apartment, and playing on Miles hand and shoulder.
The following morning, however, Pippin doesn't seem to be very well, and whilst Miles' mum is trying to get in touch with a vet Pippin falls down in his cage, dead. Miles and his younger sister are sad at the loss of their new bird, and spend the rest of the day saying goodbye to him, drawing pictures of him, and writing letters about how he made them feel. They bury Pippin in the park. Later that day the family are visited by Mr Buxton, who reveals that Pippin was his bird, and he and Miles begin to share stories about the tiny animal, and their shared loss brings them together.
I wanted to make it pretty clear in my review of Budgie that the story kills the bird, I wasn't aware of that before reading it, and actually found the twist to be not only surprising, but a little upsetting too. I have budgies, so perhaps that's why it ended up effecting me more than I thought, but the sudden twist in this story of a boy making friends with a tiny bird for it to then die was jarring to say the least. As such, any parent interested in the book should probably be aware of that before going into it, so as best to avoid ending up with an upset child, or a difficult talk about death.
That being said, the book is very bittersweet, and whilst Pippin (real name Lemon) dies his passing does end up bringing people together. We get a chance to get to know Mr Buxton, and see him as more than the scary older man that Miles had decided he was. There's a surprising depth that happens in the latter half of the book, and it's lovely to see where things go. I especially liked the fact that Mr Buxton had a husband, and that he and Mr Buxton had Lemon together as their first pet. The book doesn't make a big deal about one of the characters being gay, and treats his relationship as completely normal; which is absolutely the kind of lessons children should be learning.
The book if filled with wonderful, full colour illustrations by David Barrow, who really helps to bring the story to life. The art is simple, yet conveys a lot, and manages to pack in all of the important details. It has a way of translating the emotions of the scenes well, and I adored how much it brought Lemon to life on the page. I suspect that a number of younger readers might come away wanting a bird of their own after reading this book.
Budgie was a surprisingly touching and emotional read, one that I think shows not only how quickly people can come to care for animals, but how even through losing them the love that they bring into our lives can bring people together.
No comments:
Post a Comment