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Although Cynthia Voigt’s newest book, Little Bird, has a target audience of middle-grade readers, with its anthropomorphism, it joins beast fables like Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti and Watership Down by Richard Adams, adding its own brand of commentary on human societies and behaviors. The title character, Little Bird belongs to a small flock of crows who forage, guard against danger, and live out their short lives near Old Davis Farm. However, Little Bird doesn’t have the sharp-beaked, sharp-clawed, and sharp-spoken way of other crows. She discovers additional differences between herself and other crows, when the flock loses a good luck charm called Our Luck,Read More →

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As a female rhesus monkey, Papina has brown fur and a pink face, while Mico, a male langur monkey, has grey fur and a black face.  Although appearance, biology, and gender separate the two, they are not that different.  Living in Kolkata, India, both envision a more nearly perfect world, one where determination, courage, and wit are celebrated; rather than one’s size or social rank.  Daring to question and unwilling to blindly obey, both want to understand the mysteries and deceptions that surround monkey life.  Sickened by violence, they wish to understand why killing is necessary to keep the peace. Through the stories of theseRead More →