Elsie's Bird is about a young girl who's mother dies when she is young. Her dad grows more unhappy with the place they live every year. One day, he decides they are moving west. The young girl has always loved singing with birds. It is her freedom and release of worries. She brings a pet bird with her to the new house. The setting of this book is at some point before America was totally settled. They moved west where there was nothing but open fields. This contributes to the plot because the dad sees this as freedom, while the daughter sees this as trapped.
There is an interesting piece of symbolism that caught my attention. At one point in the story, Elsie's pet bird flies quickly out of the cage because she accidentally left the cage door open. This represented her father's urgency to get out of the old town they lived in to be free. This bird had the same feelings with the cage.
I found that this book was illustrated very well. It is a nice book if taken for face value, which is fine. I think that it has very little to offer besides the illustrations and the symbolism with the bird. I am unsure of what the author was trying to accomplish and what the point of the book is. i was left wondering why. ( )

This story is about a young girl, Elsie, who lived in Boston. Growing up, Elsie had a comfortable childhood, until her mother passed away. When Elsie turned 8 years old, Papa told her that they were going West, to find some happiness away from here. They would soon be moving to Nebraska, where there's few people and almost no towns at all. Elsie's grandmother, Nana, and her grandfather, Nonny, were sad. Elsie had a canary named Timmy Tune, whom she sang with. The moving day arrived, and Elsie, Papa, and Timmy Tune traveled by train to get to Nebraska. When they got there, to the plot of land Papa bought, there was only a house built in the ground. The only sound Elsie heard at night was her own crying. Timmy Tune was Elsie's only comfort. Elsie and Timmy Tune stayed inside the house, refusing to go outside. She was afraid she would lose herself in the silence of the prairie. One Friday, Papa went off and Elsie accidentally left Timmy Tune's cage open. Timmy Tune escaped and flew outside, where Elsie ran after him without thinking. She ran into the tall grass calling, "Timmy," and whistling. She sand his favorite song and suddenly Timmy Tune began to sing back. He flew down and perched onto Elsie's shoulder. As Papa got back home, he began to call Elsie's name, frightened. As Elsie ran towards her Papa, she heard other sounds. There, were 5 hens and a rooster and a dog. Papa told Elsie he traded Momma's quilt for a dog. She loved that hound, and with all those animals, there was a house full of sound. They turned her house into a, "true prairie home." This book shows a remarkable amount of beauty, through words and illustration. The author presents us with the idea of one finding their way in the world. ( )

This is the story of a little girl that got uprooted to a new place, living away from people with her father. She loved being around people and hearing the birds and stones. She became so sad to the point where she didn't not want to venture outside. She only had a canary to comfort her. One day the canary got out and she was forced to run after it. After realizing this land had birds she cheered up a bit. Her father brought her even more comfort in the end.

Elsie’s dad decides to move far away from the city of Boston after his wife died. However, Elsie did not want to move away from the noisy place that she had known. They moved to Nebraska, where there is nothing but grass and silence. When the two moved, Elsie did not want to go outside. She wanted to stay inside with her bird, Timmy Tune. However, one day, Timmy Tune had escaped. Elsie went out into the tall grass in search of him, singing his favorite tune. He began to sing back, and flew onto her shoulder, and the other birds started to join in. Not long after that, she heard a frightened call from her father. When she arrived back at her house, there were five hens, a rooster, and a dog waiting for her. She might not have the sound of Boston, but she will always hear lots of noise with the new animals. Elsie overcomes a lot of change in her life, from losing her mom to having to move away from everything she’s ever known. I think she is now ok with the change; she now has a true prairie home. ( )

39 months - This is the type of story I love to read with O. Stories where you feel for the little girl and her emotional journey. It doesn't hurt to have David Small illustrate. He has become my all time favorite illustrator. He has an amazing ability to capture movement and emotion and add so much more to a story than the words of the author can. ( )