Free As a Bird

Having spent the night dreaming of flying over the ocean Jonas the lighthouse keeper wakes full of excitement and after a quick breakfast, he hurries to tell his friend Blue, the whale about it. After locating Blue, he notices that there’s a bird on her head. The bird is utterly exhausted and barely alive. Back safely at the lighthouse, the friends know that they must take extra special care of the little creature and as luck would have it, Blue is able to understand the meaning of the bird’s tweets. They find out that the bird has flown from a country far away across the ocean, a land that was once beautiful until it was ravaged by war. As a result Bird had no choice but to flee; he undertook a perilous journey without stopping in the hope of finding a safe haven. But eventually he could go no longer and then down he dropped.

Gradually the little bird grows stronger and the air around the lighthouse is filled with his song. Other birds hear and they come too, singing the very same song of freedom as they regain sufficient strength to venture away to find homes elsewhere. The first little bird though stays where he’s found happiness and a home – at the lighthouse with Jonas, the perfect place to raise a family.

Barroux’s hugely powerful, compassionate tale is told with great empathy, making effective use of the bird metaphor to convey the on-going plight of refugees fleeing war and other harm from many parts of the world. Barroux’s watercolour illustrations show little bird finding a safe haven: if only the countless human refugees could be similarly fortunate.