TEN BIRDS by Cybèle Young

Bibliography
Young, Cybèle. 2011. Ten Birds. Tonawanda, New York: Kids Can Press. ISBN 9781554535682

Plot Summary
On a cold, snowy day, ten birds try to cross a river. Each bird devises a contraption to cross the river in imaginative ways until all birds make it to the other side. The book counts down from ten to zero, with the last bird crossing the river in the simplest of ways.

Critical Analysis
The characters are simple, ten birds. These birds are interesting in that they have the remarkable ability to use basic contraptions to get across a river, such as stilts, a fan boat, and balloons. It is a counting book, and animals that can do fantastical things are appealing to children in this age group.

The plot is simple as well. The birds are devising various ways to cross a river. The illustrations are beautiful and tell most of the story. Readers can see that there is a bridge that goes across the river. Wherever the birds are, it is cold and snowy with a river that has not frozen over yet. This setting fits in with the plot. Even my four-year-old son commented about the bridge and wondered why the birds just do not walk across it, which is the theme of the story. The last bird, which is known to be not as brilliant as the others, does just that. I found this amusing because they are birds, and all of them can fly across! However, the theme is true throughout life. The simplest solutions are usually the best ones. This is told in an amusing manner. It is funny to see the various ways each bird devises to cross the river. Young children may not recognize what some of the contraptions are and may miss the humor of it all. This happened with my son, and he kept asking for explanations about some of the devices the birds use.

The author’s style is beautiful. Few words are used. Words are used to convey each bird’s name, describe briefly the method used in crossing the river, and display a number in text. The illustrations do all the rest of the storytelling. The pictures have an old and classic looking print. This goes along with the simple contraptions the birds use. The numbers are displayed using some feature of the contraption. For example, when the countdown gets to seven, the bird leaving seven behind swooshes over the bridge on a kite. The number seven is displayed using the kite’s rope and frame.

The author is from Canada, and I do not see any cultural markers in this book. The story is universal, the language is Standard English, and the birds, which look like pigeons, can be found anywhere, at least in North America and Europe. Even the snowy landscape can be anywhere that is cold. The author’s intentions here are not to write about a culture or to depict one. It is to create an unusual and witty counting book for little ones to enjoy.

Awards Won & Review Excerpts

• 2012 USBBY Outstanding International Books
• Booklist: “Young children will enjoy seeing the numbers revealed and will look for them in the original configurations of hardware and tackle. But the artist’s explorations of identity, expectation, and possibility will captivate an audience of older children ready to engage with the creative interplay between imagery and meaning.”
• Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices: “The intricate black pen-and-ink illustrations manage to be both serious and playful in this oversize picture book that not only affirms there are many different ways to arrive at a single destination but also illuminates the shortcomings of labels when it comes to identifying ability or potential.”
• Library Media Connection: “Illustrations are intricate pen and ink drawings that portray the story in a way that will appeal to readers of all ages. The story works on many levels ranging from the obvious counting book to the more complex parable about the use of labels in education, teacher expectations, and good old-fashioned common sense. This book has much potential as a teaching tool as students determine what strategies they would use to cross the river.”

Connections

• Have children discuss or draw other unusual ways in which the birds could cross the river.
• Other counting books:

           Burnette, Margarette. Counting in the Crazy Garden. ISBN: 9780965379137
           Formento, Alison. This Tree Counts! ISBN: 9780807578902
           Newhouse, Maxwell. Counting on Snow. ISBN: 9780887769856
           Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. One Boy. ISBN: 9781596432741
           Wormell, Christopher. Teeth, Tails & Tentacles: An Animal Counting Book. ISBN:               0762421002

• Other Picture Books from Canada:

           Côté, Geneviève. Me and You. ISBN: 9781554534463
           Gay, Marie-Louise. Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth. ISBN:                           9780888999948
           Jocelyn, Marthe. Over Under. ISBN: 0887767087
           Larsen, Andrew and Irene Luxbacher. The Imaginary Garden. ISBN: 9781554532797
           Maclear, Kyo. Spork. ISBN: 9781553377368