When the pigeons in the city feel disrespected, they decide to stage a protest and disappear until the people acknowledge their importance and decide to treat them with kindness (in exchange for less bird droppings on their heads). The illustrations are nice watercolors in slightly muted tones that capture the feeling of the concrete city while still allowing for some slightly brighter colors of nature.

I think this story works well for elementary school students with a target audience of 4-6 grade if the intended "lesson" is to be learned. Younger students will simply enjoy a story about birds in the city with little thought to the underlying agenda. For what it's worth, I think the city is the star of the show and not the pigeons or the people.

Dr. Coo and his friends take a stand against the way they, and all pigeons like them, have been treated by the people of the city. This is a sweet book that touches on standing up for one's self and how to request inclusion. The illustrations are spectacular!

This appears to be a child's picture book, but I feel it is more relevant to middle grades and those learning about democracy, social justice, respect for differences etc. Dr. Coo is a rather smart pigeon. Each day, he and his friends meet on the wires or buildings to visit. When a young pigeon, Hootie Claw speaks up about the lack of respect pigeons receive, the others agree. Dr. Coo talks about how pigeons used to be respected and revered and the others want to know what they can do to bring this back. A peaceful protest, a request explaining what they want and a happy ending finish up the story. It is a simple way to outline some important issues facing the world today and ways to deal with them. A teacher could use this text to introduce some important topics, but again, I believe this book would work best with students from grade 5 to 8. It could be used to spark classroom discussions on respecting differences, working out disagreements, or stepping up to counter injustice, all important subjects for the budding self-awareness and personal development of young children. It also aligns with character education. A nice addition to school and classroom libraries.

Great book! So many possibilities to jumpstart conversations, such as protest, equality, appreciating something for what it is rather than what you want it to be, etc. I recommend this book to any school library and classroom.

This is really just a picture book about pigeons who feel they are not appreciated, so they go on strike. Then their demands are met and they return. There is nothing really deep here, though there is a bit about the history of pigeons, and how they were used to send messages in the past (homing pigeons).

But, whomever wrote this promotional piece about the book was reading something much more into it:
<blockquote>This book could be used to spark classroom discussions on respecting differences, working out disagreements, or stepping up to counter injustice, all important subjects for the budding self-awareness and personal development of young children. It also aligns with character education lessons on self-respect, initiative and inclusiveness.</blockquote>

I really don't think that is what is in this book. Now, granted, I am not a teacher, but I think that most kids would <em>not</em> pick up on this.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.