Book Recommendation: There Is a Bird on Your Head!

My son is starting to read more on his own now, so I was delighted to find the lighthearted early reader There Is a Bird On Your Head! by Mo Willems, of Knuffle Bunny and Pigeon fame.

The simple plot is that elephant Gerald has a bird on his head, and must rely on his friend Piggie to tell him what is happening atop his dome. The bird then finds a mate. Piggie joyfully declares, “They are in love!” and proceeds to report to Gerald on their nest making, egg laying, and chick hatching.

The best part of the book, though, for LGBT parents? At no point are the birds’ genders mentioned. That’s right—it works for families of all types. (It seems a sensible approach, in these days of gay penguins and lesbian swans starting (or trying to start) families, although I am not at all sure that was on Willems’ mind).

I’m a little late to the game on this one, though. The book came out in 2007 and is part of a whole series of books featuring the cautious, slightly pessimistic Gerald and the more exuberant Piggie. The very latest one, Elephants Cannot Dance!, just came out last week, as it happens. In it, Piggie wants to share her love of dance with Gerald, who has been told “elephants can’t dance” and is reluctant to try. Finally, of course, he does, and teaches Piggie a thing or two in return about finding one’s own way. It looks like another winner with a good lesson.