The Birdman
- Publisher
- Tundra
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2006
- Category
- Birds, Death & Dying, Asia
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780887767401
- Publish Date
- Sep 2006
- List Price
- $22.99
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 5 to 8
- Grade: k to 3
Description
Noor Nobi is a broken man, wandering the streets of Calcutta with no reason to live. His three children, snatched from him in a cruel accident, were everything he worked for and loved. But one day, he enters a crowded market and sees a bird, caged and frightened and sick. With very little money in his pocket, he waits until the vendor is closing up.
Quickly, Noor Nobi bargains and, happy to get anything for the sickly thing, the vendor accepts his offer. For some reason Noor Nobi cannot explain, it is important for him to nurse the bird back to health. When it is finally able to fly, Noor Nobi takes his bird to a big Banyan tree and releases it. Only then is he able to weep and fully grieve for his children.
Before Noor Nobi knows it, he is back at work and taking his weekly earnings to the market where he continues to buy, heal, and free as many birds as he can. Crowds gather; some laugh and say he is crazy, some stand reverently, some don’t know what to think. But Noor Nobi’s kindness saves a growing number of birds, and the birds, in turn, give him new purpose.
Author Veronika Martenova Charles read a short newspaper article about the “Birdman” of Calcutta and her imagination took flight. She traveled to India, found Noor Nobi, and witnessed the freeing of the birds for herself.
The Birdman is a touching, true story, tenderly illustrated by Annouchka Gravel Galouchko and Stéphan Daigle. It is accompanied by an afterword, diary entries, and photographs of the author’s experience.
About the authors
Veronika Martenova Charles grew up in a Prague, Czechoslovakia. When her grandmother put a stop to her drawing classes, she became a singer instead. After her dramatic arrival in Canada, she studied art at university and became an award-winning author and illustrator. Her books include Maiden of the Mist, The Birdman, and her series for beginning readers: Easy-To-Read Spooky Tales and Easy-To-Read Wonder Tales. Veronica is currently researching the future of children's storytelling in doctoral studies. She lives in Toronto.
Veronika Martenova Charles' profile page
Born in Montreal, Annouchka Gravel Galouchko has lived with her family in Iran, Egypt, Mexico, and Austria. She trained in fine arts at the University of Quebec and started her career as a full-time painter. Her book "Sho et les dragons d'eau" received the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature for its illustrations and was a finalist in the French text competition. Her fanciful and rich imagination is reflected in her paintings and her writings. She also loves music.
Awards
- Nominated, Governor General's Literary Awards - Children's Literature - Illustration
Editorial Reviews
“[The Birdman is written in a] vivid, poetic text…[complemented by] vibrant folk-art paintings, gloriously patterned with flowers, Hindu symbols, and soaring birds"
- Booklist
Librarian Reviews
The Birdman
Noor Nobi, a tailor, has lost his three children to a cruel accident. Overwhelmed with grief, he cannot work or even cry. One day he makes a trip to the market and sees cages and cages crammed with birds. He makes it his mission to use his wages to heal and free as many of these illegally caged birds as he can. Noor Nobi has found his new purpose in life.Though this story seems almost mythical, it is a true one. After reading a newspaper article about Noor Nobi Mollah, the “Birdman of Calcutta,” Veronika Charles became so intrigued that she travelled to India, found Noor Nobi, and witnessed the freeing of the birds for herself.
This vibrant picture book is twofold: It contains both the poetic story of Noor Nobi and also a section made up of an afterword, diary entries, and photographs of the author’s experience. Charles’s writing is elegiac yet filled with hope and makes mature themes such as loss and faith easily digestible for the reader.
Annouchka Gravel Galouchko and Stéphan Daigle’s artwork beautifully complements Charles’s powerful text. Rendered in gouache, the luscious illustrations beautifully capture the busy streets of Calcutta and the exhilarating liberation of the exotic birds.
Although The Birdman starts on a tragic note, it is a tale of optimism and self-healing. This true story will be especially intriguing to young readers.
Source: The Canadian Children's Bookcentre. Fall 2006. Vol.29 No. 4.
H The Birdman
The true story of a broken man who wanders the streets of Calcutta until he finds a new purpose: rescuing and freeing thousands of illegally captured birds.Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Canadian Children’s Book News. 2007.
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