The life of a solitary creature like a Sasquatch can be fairly repetitive, and even more so, lonely. The title character in Jill Esbaum’s Elwood Bigfoot: Wanted: Birdie Friends! goes about each day picking the same berries and enjoying his favorite sassafras tea, with his only interactions involving the many beautiful birds that live in his forest. Except… he’s the only one who seems to be interacting. What can Elwood do to get the birds to like him?
At the sight of colorful feathers, Elwood gets a huge grin of excitement and hollers to the birds, imploring them to be his friend, but all they do is fly off en masse, leaving Elwood all alone again. When that doesn’t work, Elwood gets a few creative ideas, from building himself a home in the treetops to creating an amazing amusement park just for the birds, full of features perfectly suited for the avian creatures he so adores. Nothing seems to work for poor Elwood, who continues to try to attract the birds to his creations in the booming excitement that can only come from a huge Bigfoot. As Elwood’s disappointment rises, he begins to think that he’ll never be able to get a birdie friend, and so he slumps down in sadness. What will happen when he sits in quiet solitude?
Children reading this picture book or hearing this story read aloud will quickly pick up on the big flaw in Elwood’s plan executions, though it takes him until the final pages to make the discovery himself. When kids get clued into the joke of a picture book early on, the reading experience is heightened to a new level of enjoyment, and this story can especially be brought to life with an exuberant reader. (Oh, how I long for a preschool class story time to lead with this one!) I was immediately taken with the whimsical illustrations, full of vibrant colors and softly rounded shapes. Kudos to illustrator Nate Wragg for incorporating some realistic details and color schemes into a few of the birds, which encouraged my kids to try to identify real birds among the cartoon-style illustrations.
Add this new picture book to your reading sessions with young children for a rousing and engaging story time.