Baby Bird

As a first-grader, The Moose brings home several books from school each night to read, and he brought this particular book home earlier this week:

Full disclosure: I did not read this book. I only know what my wife told me and the following summary:

Derek finds a wounded baby bird. He brings it home and gives it water and food. Grandpa cautions him that the baby bird probably won't live, but Derek is hopeful. When the bird dies during the night, Grandpa assures Derek he did his best and comforts him with a big hug.

My first response is what the heck kind of book is this for a first grader? Oh what a cute book about a boy caring for an injured bird. I'm sure this will have a happy ending. Wait, the bird died!?!?

Let me go back here. When my son was about to get his adenoids out, we got several kids books about going to the hospital. Therefore, I'm sure there are plenty of books about death geared towards kids, particularly about the loss of a pet. In the case of the hospital books, that was something we sought out to read to him. Maybe my issue here is that this book seems really sad and not all that appropriate as a general reading book. Actually, maybe it is appropriate. What do I know? My outrage has certainly decreased significantly since I started writing this post!

So with all of this written, um, if you're looking for a book about a dead bird to read to your kid or have him/her read to you, Baby Bird by Beth Johnson is it!