Reading Rumpus: Little Bird by Germano Zullo with illustrations by Albertine: A very special little book

I usually write about children's books on Reading Rumpus. Sometimes I drop a few teaching ideas, but mostly this is simply a place to chronicle children's literature that I find interesting for one reason or another. I read a lot more books, A LOT more, than I ever could write about here. Every once in awhile, I get my hands on a book that is so profound it transcends the stigma of being labelled a "children's" book (boy, is that a post for another soap box sort of day). Those books become our classics. They are this:

and this:

and all of those shiny medal ones we cherish. But across the pond they write books too! I don't get my hands on those very often, not unless they publish them here:

Little Bird is a very special story. It won France's version of the Caldecott, the Prix Sorcières in 2011, but the story is what really gets me. I read it a long time ago and recently found it in a stack of book in the back of a closet. Here are the opening lines just to give you an idea:

"Some days are different.
One could almost believe that one day is just like another.
But some have something a little more.
Nothing much.
Just a small thing.
Tiny."

This is one of those life-affirming stories that should be on everyone's shelf! Go buy it. You will start looking at the mundane, the overlooked, the little things.... Tiny..... with new eyes.

-------------------- That's all folks! --------------------