Rusty, the rainbow bird by Aleesah Darlison

Rusty the Rainbow Bird is the third book in the popular Endangered Animals Tales series. The author, Aleesah Darlison, continues to share her passion for educating younger readers about Australian animals that are in danger. In this story Rusty the Rainbow Bird is a Gouldian Finch, native to the top of Australia from the Kimberley in WA to Far North Queensland. The reader is introduced to Rusty flittering and fluttering about near a waterhole which is shrinking due to the dry season. Water is an important habitat for these finches, and they never roam far from it. Rusty meets Olivia and after a courtship dance, they make a cosy nest and six eggs are laid. Both finches share the care of keeping the eggs warm. The babies hatch naked and blind with colourful patterns on their mouths so the parents can find them in the dark. Rusty’s family is under threat from bushfire and he quickly moves them to safety.

The short sentences of the story along with the Fact! information shared on each double page provides younger readers with the opportunity to successfully read this book independently. The vibrant full-page illustrations are both detailed and appealing and successfully complement the text. The final page of information about the Gouldian Finch with a location map, labelled diagram and dot points of important facts is an excellent introduction to using non-fiction to find out more about the world we live in.

Themes: Endangered Animals, Australia, Gouldian Finches, Factual Narrative.

Kathryn Beilby