Lacked a great deal.of substance. Free as a Bird was far too simplistic and lacked plot or development.

This was a great book for me. I read roughly 100 - 150 books a year and so far this is right up there high on that list. Recommend for anyone

This turned out to be a pretty unusual story.

A boy dreams of being a bird and decides to try to live like one.
He makes himself a bird costume and then puts it on and goes to the forest. There he climbs up a tree, to sit on one of the branches, like a normal bird would do, except they would fly up of course.
Now, he stays there all night, hoping to transform into a real bird, but it doesn’t happen and in the morning he has made up his mind, being a bird is not his thing.
So, he climbs back down to go home, but now the story takes a dark turn.

A huntsman comes along and mistakes him for a real bird, catches him with a net and takes him home to lock him in a cage.
What happens next?
Well, the end will take you by surprise and I liked it, but I’m not so sure, if young children will understand the final twist.

To be honest, the story left me with mixed feelings. Sure, children dream of all sorts of things and why not imagine to be a bird in the forest?
To make a costume going with it, again fair enough, but to spend all night sitting on a tree branch? Certainly nothing I would encourage any child to do.

The huntsman part reminds of dark scenarios in old fairy tales, but the good thing about it is, it shows the young ones, being on your own in the forest is dangerous.

The final twist on the last page, you don’t see coming and as mentioned before, I liked it. Suddenly you see the whole story in a different light, but I’m sure, young children will need an explanation of what’s going on.

The illustrations are actually really beautiful, watercolours in blue and grey shades, which enhance the story perfectly.

I think, it’s an interesting story, if you want to talk with your child or as a teacher with your class about imagination and the freedom to try out different things, before you finally decide what you really want to do.

A boy wants to be a bird, so he makes a costume, climbs up a tree, and waits for something to happen.
Nothing does, until he comes down and finds his suit was really good enough to fool. Luckily, because he’s a human with a brain, nothing bad comes out of it. . . and it ends.
Nothing much really happens. Everything is so passive amongst the sparse watercolor and one line of words on a white background.

This wasn't to my taste, I found the text a little short, weird and possibly disturbing to young children. The key message about children using their imaginations didn't really come across to me - I didn't really get it and I'm not sure kids will either.

A very sweet little tale with beautiful illustrations. .

Doubles as a Picture Book for Kids and (you can't unsee once you see it) Satire for Adults.

Dreamy watercolor illustrations in a blue tones, five stars. A three-star, simple, very short story about a boy donning a bird suit, hoping it will turn him into a bird. No such luck, of course. After climbing down from the top of a tree with dashed hopes, a hunter nabs him, mistaking him for a bird. The boy escapes his cage, goes home, and puts his bird suit with relics from previous adventures.