Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd ; Hard Cover, Picture Book ; Recommended

Time to Fly

I love the idea behind the book, and I really love the illustrations. They are warm and sweet and really capture the sentiment of the story. I just wish the text flowed better. The story is a rhyming dialogue between a baby bird and his mother as she urges him to leave the nest. The baby bird is reluctant to try and thinks of lots of excuses to stay within the comfort of his nest, but mom keeps urging, and eventually he decides if his brother and sister could do it, he can too. My one criticism is that at times the rhyme seems forced, becoming stilted, losing any sense of rhythm. Still, it is rather beautiful over all.