Look at the Birdie

Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0440338778
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
“Relentlessly fun to read.”—Dave Eggers • A collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories from one of the most original writers in all of American fiction In this series of perfectly rendered vignettes, written just as he was starting to find his comic voice, Kurt Vonnegut paints a warm, wise, and funny portrait of life in post–World War II America—a world where squabbling couples, high school geniuses, misfit office workers, and small-town lotharios struggle to adapt to changing technology, moral ambiguity, and unprecedented affluence. Here are tales both cautionary and hopeful, each brimming with Vonnegut’s trademark humor and profound humanism. A family learns the downside of confiding their deepest secrets into a magical invention. A man finds himself in a Kafkaesque world of trouble after he runs afoul of the shady underworld boss who calls the shots in an upstate New York town. A quack psychiatrist turned “murder counselor” concocts a novel new outlet for his paranoid patients. While these stories reflect the anxieties of the postwar era that Vonnegut was so adept at capturing—and provide insight into the development of his early style—collectively, they have a timeless quality that makes them just as relevant today as when they were written. It’s impossible to imagine any of these pieces flowing from the pen of another writer; each in its own way is unmistakably, quintessentially Vonnegut. Featuring a foreword by author and longtime Vonnegut confidant Sidney Offit and illustrated with Vonnegut’s characteristically insouciant line drawings, Look at the Birdie is an unexpected gift for readers who thought his unique voice had been stilled forever—and serves as a terrific introduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet to experience his genius. Includes these never-before-published stories: “Confido” “FUBAR” “Shout About It from the Housetops” “Ed Luby’s Key Club” “A Song for Selma” “Hall of Mirrors” “The Nice Little People” “Hello, Red” “Little Drops of Water” “The Petrified Ants” “The Honor of a Newsboy” “Look at the Birdie” “King and Queen of the Universe” “The Good Explainer” “[Look at the Birdie] brings us the late writer’s young voice as he skewers—sometimes gently, always lethally—post World War II America.”—The Boston Globe

Birdie

Author: Tracey Lindberg
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 1443442097
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Book Description
Monkey Beach meets Green Grass, Running Water meets The Beachcombers in this wise and funny novel by a debut Cree author Birdie is a darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from wounds of the past, informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions. Bernice Meetoos, a Cree woman, leaves her home in Northern Alberta following tragedy and travels to Gibsons, BC. She is on something of a vision quest, seeking to understand the messages from The Frugal Gourmet (one of the only television shows available on CBC North) that come to her in her dreams. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns, who played Jesse on The Beachcombers, because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Bernice heads for Molly’s Reach to find answers but they are not the ones she expected. With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Bernice finds the strength to face the past and draw the lessons from her dreams that she was never fully taught in life. Part road trip, dream quest and travelogue, the novel touches on the universality of women's experience, regardless of culture or race.

Look, See the Bird!

Author: Bill Wilson
Publisher: Hatherleigh Press
ISBN: 1578266882
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 31

Book Description
Look, See the Bird! is a beautifully illustrated children's book which seeks to not only promote curiosity in children about the natural world around them, but also to establish the universal quality of having a connection with nature. Look, See the Bird! follows children in a variety of locations, all of whom are learning about local birds and their habits. Beginning with Ruben and his sister Maria, who have decided to spend their day bird-watching in the coffee plants of their Nicaraguan farm, the story wings towards locations as far removed as Alabama and Ontario, lighting down briefly along the way as children the world over join with Ruben and Maria in spirit, looking for birds in their own backyards. Each time, the question is asked by one child to another: "Look! See the bird?" And each time, the children are treated to the sight of a majestic bird native to their home. This unifying question joins the children on the page with the children holding the book, inviting them to look outside, and see what they can see!

Look Up!

Author: Annette LeBlanc Cate
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 1536245860
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Book Description
“A chatty, appealing introduction. . . . Small and accessible, this is jam-packed with accurate information likely to increase any potential birder’s enthusiasm and knowledge.” — Kirkus Reviews(starred review) This conversational, humorous introduction to bird-watching encourages kids to get outdoors with a sketchbook and really look around. Quirky full-color illustrations portray dozens of birds chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types, while tongue-in-cheek cartoons feature banter between birds, characters, and the reader. Interactive and enjoyable tips bring an age-old hobby to new life for the next generation of bird-watchers, and eighteen new pages of activities, including drawing, mapmaking, and a scavenger hunt, make this paperback edition a must-have.

The Bird Way

Author: Jennifer Ackerman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735223033
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds -- how they live and how they think. “There is the mammal way and there is the bird way.” But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries –– What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own: deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, infanticide, but also ingenious communication between species, cooperation, collaboration, altruism, culture, and play. Some of these extraordinary behaviors are biological conundrums that seem to push the edges of, well, birdness: a mother bird that kills her own infant sons, and another that selflessly tends to the young of other birds as if they were her own; a bird that collaborates in an extraordinary way with one species—ours—but parasitizes another in gruesome fashion; birds that give gifts and birds that steal; birds that dance or drum, that paint their creations or paint themselves; birds that build walls of sound to keep out intruders and birds that summon playmates with a special call—and may hold the secret to our own penchant for playfulness and the evolution of laughter. Drawing on personal observations, the latest science, and her bird-related travel around the world, from the tropical rainforests of eastern Australia and the remote woodlands of northern Japan, to the rolling hills of lower Austria and the islands of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, Jennifer Ackerman shows there is clearly no single bird way of being. In every respect, in plumage, form, song, flight, lifestyle, niche, and behavior, birds vary. It is what we love about them. As E.O Wilson once said, when you have seen one bird, you have not seen them all.

Where Birdie Lives

Author: Clever Publishing
Publisher: Clever Publishing
ISBN: 9781948418003
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Perfect for toddlers who love to play as they read, this adorable interactive picture book is sure to entertain children - and their parents! This heartwarming tale tells the readers about the quest of an endearing little puppy in search of a birdie. The young reader is challenged to solve a mystery and to look for a birdie under each flap, and then be delighted to find it at the very end. Sturdy board pages help children develop early motor functions and their imagination, and the touching illustrations by a young artist Elena Tsvetaeva will make this book a favorite for your child.

Birdie's Big-Girl Dress

Author: Sujean Rim
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316210137
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 42

Book Description
That night, Birdie dreamed of dresses-- fluttery floral sundresses... lovely lace sheaths... chic chiffon gowns... In this follow-up to Birdie's Big-Girl Shoes, our favorite pint-sized fashionista is looking forward to a very BIG day--her birthday. But when Birdie tries on her favorite party dress, she realizes that - oh no! - it's too small. Mommy takes her to the boutique, where she tries on dress after dress, but Birdie realizes that none of these gowns will allow her to run and jump, make messes, and eat cake. Only when she takes a trip up to her favorite thinking place, the attic, does she realize that all it takes to find the perfect "Birdie dress" is a little imagination.

Calvin, Look Out!

Author: Jennifer Berne
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781454909101
Category : JUVENILE FICTION
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Relates how Calvin the starling's book knowledge and new glasses aid him during a perilous adventure.

Birdie's Big-Girl Shoes

Author:
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 031607215X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 55

Book Description
Birdie carefully slipped her little toes into one shoe, then slid into the other. She looked at herself in the mirror... and gasped. Birdie can't wait to be just like her mom. She loves wearing jewelry, spritzing perfume bottles, and dressing up in front of the mirror. But more than anything, Birdie fantasizes about her mother's fancy high-heels. She can't wait to try them on and do all the things she likes to do wearing beautiful "big-girl shoes." Little girls will love walking with Birdie as she spends a day in her mother's shoes, but in the end they may find that, like Birdie, they like their "barefoot shoes" best of all. With playful watercolors and clever textured cut-paper designs, this precious picture book will speak to every little girl who longs to be a "big-girl".

Birdie's Big-Girl Hair

Author:
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316404780
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 41

Book Description
It's time for Birdie's very first haircut, and the miniature fashionista yearns for more than just a simple trim. Should she choose an updo, a perm, or a ballerina bun? She looks through pictures, books, lots of magazines - even Mommy's yearbook - to find the best new look, and she and Mommy head to the salon. Her haircut looks fantastic, but begins to sag later on at the playground... because Birdie doesn't just love fashion - she likes to run and jump and play! In the end, Mommy reminds her that the most perfect Birdie look is the one that lets her be herself. Sujean Rim's beautiful watercolor and fabric collages will have fashionistas of every age giggling as she showcases Birdie with iconic hairstyles from decades past. Another delightful adventure in the Birdie series that offers a playful balance of fashion, fun, and heart!