The Birdman

Readers accustomed to Burgess's bleak urban dystopias might be surprised to find his name on the cover or a picture book about a boy's attempt to rescue a robin from a carnivalesque bird seller, but this story is faithful to both Burgess's concern for the natural world and his ability to evoke a deeply sinister atmosphere. Young Jarvis takes the rescued bird home, intending to set it free, but he is so beguiled by its beauty that he begins to procrastinate. After several postponements of its release, the robin falls to the floor of the cage, and the birdman, now a figure of nemesis, appears in Jarvis's room. The resolution is eerie. Brown's realistic double page paintings surrounding the brief text evoke a sense of vulnerable natural beauty, whose shadows and margins are infested with menacing phantoms. A short, powerful and visually attractive book, excellent for evoking conversation between younger and older readers.