Bluebird's Nest by Dorothea DePrisco

DePrisco, Dorothea. (2005). Bluebird’s Nest. Illustrated by Jo Parry. Inglewood: Piggy Toes Press. 16 p.

This charming story of a bluebird building her nest throughout the year with the help of her friends will stick with readers as they think about what it takes to build not only a home, but a community as well. The story begins with a bluebird thinking about her next “project” and moves on to show her friends giving her the different components of a nest to build for her eggs. It shows the community among the other animals in the story that they are all willing to help build a home for Bluebird. The phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” comes to mind as I think “it takes a forest to build a nest.” It is a classic story of how accepting help from others can help to guide you along your way.

Jo Parry uses a variety of mediums in this book. The primary medium is the background on the pages, which is created using what looks like paint of a canvas. These pictures a really beautiful because there is so much more to look at than just Bluebird and the nest, like the wind blowing the leaves off of the tree in autumn and the meadow that contains Bluebird’s tree. Other mediums include the yarn sewn into the pages to show the nest growing with everything added and pop ups attached to the pages to show how big Bluebird’s nest becomes and the family she was able to hatch in it. On the pages with yarn, the reader can move the yarn to see her eggs and the other items put into the nest by Bluebird’s friends.

DePrisco’s easy text allows students to listen and examine to beautiful illustrations at the same time. This is a great story to use in a younger classroom, from pre-kindergarten to first grade, to teach the valuable lessons of cooperation and hard work. Students will enjoy watching Bluebird’s nest grow. The story also allows children to guess what she is building at the beginning of the story, since it starts out as Bluebird’s project. Then we see the Bluebird’s friends bringing her nest items and watch as her nest takes shape. This story would also be great for buddy reading in a first grade classroom or if older students come in and read to the younger students.

I have seen this story used in a 3 year old classroom and the students absolutely loved it! For their art project that day, they built their own little nests on a big piece of paper to take home. They wanted to use the yarn like the book did, but we didn’t quite have time for that!