A Time to Fly!

A Time to Fly! would be a fine addition to any home library. This book is perfect for those parents who like to read to their toddler-ish children.

The story, which is very short (28 pages), shows the technique a mother bird uses to get her last baby bird to finally leave the nest. The illustrations in this book are marvelous and plentiful. There is an illustration that takes a full page on every two-page spread. Props to illustrator Nancy Hoover for some eye-catching artwork.

The entire story takes place within one moment in time. In other words, this is not a day-after-day type of story. There is only one scene from beginning to end. It’s a very simple tale. The birds have no names. There is the subject baby bird, Mother, Father, Brother and Sister. I think this is fitting for the intended audience.

All dialogue is appropriate for the targeted age group; however, quotation marks are inconsistently and incorrectly used, and there are some grammatical errors. While a toddler couldn’t care less about proper grammar and punctuation, the errors cause confusion for the reader, especially where there are multiple speakers within one paragraph. Some may not mind or notice the errors, but it’s important to me.

Overall, if I had toddlers at home, I would happily share this story with them several times.