My Mum is a bird by Angie Cui and Evie Barrow

Mum is very different from other mums and carers. And many examples are shown of her difference: the way she butters toast or heats the milo, and the most concerning of all of all, the way she flies her daughter to school. The girl knows that people stop and stare when her mother takes her to school and comes into the classroom for parent and carer’s day. She unwillingly adds her bowl of seed to the table with food from all the other families, and is very embarrassed when mum warbles a tune when each child is asked to tell the class what their parents do. At recess mum sits in a tree so her daughter sits with her so she is not alone.

Suddenly a large hairy spider lands on Kayla’s hair. She screams running around the yard. Everyone reacts differently, getting up on a chair, or running around in a panic, or picking up a stick. But mum flaps her wings and flies down, grabbing the spider in her beak and eating it. Mum is cheered by the parents and the children. Kayla has been saved by this unusual mother. The girl happily snuggles down into mum’s feathers as they take off and fly home.

A charming story of the love that exists between a mum and her daughter. This family is not quite like other families but in celebrating their differences will enable children see that differences are part of our world. The mum in this story is quite different from other mums but her skills are useful in a tight spot, and so is seen in a new light by the school and her daughter. 

A lovely story to read aloud and share, especially with the light touch of the illustrations, executed with coloured pencils, which will intrigue young readers who have a warm relationship with coloured pencils and will look closely at the images with greater interest. Evie Barrow is able to reflect a feeling on the faces of the children, enabling us to read what they are thinking. This is very obvious when mum turns up at school, with parents’ faces full of surprise and questions, and lovely to see the change in their visages when she saves the child from the spider.

Themes: Difference, Animals, Humour.

Fran Knight