Yeti and the Bird

A friendship between the biggest, hairiest, scariest beast and a tiny bird is pretty unlikely but that is exactly what develops when the bird, en route for somewhere warm to spend the winter, crashes into a yeti. The tiny bird is lost and the yeti is lonely. So he takes the downhearted little creature to his forest home and the two become playfellows, much to the surprise of the other animals. As the winter grows colder, Yeti realizes that his friend must leave. He bids her farewell and is alone once more; but not for long as the other forest dwellers having seen his playful side, come out to have fun with him too.

On the face of it, the story is nothing out of the ordinary but it is much enlivened by the illustrations of the interactions between the huge shaggy, cream yeti and the small rotund reddish orange bird. Yeti’s scary RAAARGH! only provokes laughter from the bird while bird’s tears on realizing she is lost, has Yeti tickling her with a stick, feeding her a worm and patting her on the head in his efforts to cheering her up. With its themes of friendship and not judging by appearances, the book offers food for thought and discussion with young listeners.