Giving Wings
Reviewed by Dr Beverley Croker
Famous Australian Birds.
By Gisela Kaplan, Allen and Unwin, Melbourne, $29.95
Increasingly, children’s texts are being enriched by writers with a high level of expertise in their own field. Professor Kaplan is one such writer who is an internationally renowned, highly published academic of scientific texts. In response to her belief that she should share the results of her research on the behaviour of well known Australian birds, Famous Australian Birds became her first venture into writing a children’s book. Such a task is difficult as it involves using appropriate language, carefully selecting material and presenting the text in a tone that does not condescend. Professor Kaplan has met these challenges. The book, already attracting a great deal of interest from reviewers and interviewers, is unique in that it is not simply another ornithological study but rather it challenges the readers’ emotions by exploring a universe common to birds and humans.
Far from the remote authorial voice often found in factual texts, here the relationship between the reader and writer is very significant. Through anecdotes and photographs, the warmth and sincerity of the narrative voice speaks directly to the reader. The book allows the reader to respond emotionally to wonderful tales of rescue. The final section is called Living with Birds. How can we help? This could, in fact, be the subtitle or title of the book. It is a book that shows the relationship between human and bird and draws parallels between our ordinary days and those of birds and reminds us of the need for a positive attitude to life. This is not just a book about animal welfare but about human welfare.
While it is written with a sense of a young audience, Famous Australian Birds has the power to fascinate the adult reader, too, as it offers knowledge and passion. It invites rereadings as new insights about the talents of birds are revealed and it also arouses passionate responses and challenges our sense of responsibility to develop an environment that offers protection and future expansion of birdlife.
One of the most influential liberal - humanists of the 20th century, Paul Hazard, believed that the essential focus of a children’s text was ‘to give wings to the imagination’. He also added that it should have ‘the integrity to perpetuate the readers’ faith in truth and justice’. This book both stimulates the imagination and gives integrity to the reader. Hazard would be delighted with this book.
Hazard Paul, 1944, Books, Children and Men. Boston: The Horn Book.
And for a second review of Famous Australian Birds in the issue go to "Did You Know"