Rosie the raven

by Helga Bansch

age range: 3 to 5 years old

There are 5 eggs in the raven's nest, and from one of them hatches out Rosie, a beautiful little girl.

Rosie loves be under her parents wings. She eats worms, flies and snails. She is happy and feels loved by her raven family. She only notices she's different because all the gossip other birds are doing. No beak, no feathers, no wings. She really wants to be like her siblings, so she tries everything she can think of, until she realizes how silly she is acting.

Migration time comes, and since Rosie can't fly, her parents practice to carry her in their backs. When they are ready, everybody heads to the south. Rosie loves their new home. She knows she is different, but that's not a bad thing. She can collect food too, and now she has a frog friend who promises to teach her to swim. Rosie feels she belongs.

I found the story a little weird at the beginning, with a girl hatching from a raven egg, but I quickly fell in love with Rosie and the ravens. I liked the message of acceptance behind the words of this story. Rosie and the ravens focus in what they have in common, and not in their differences, and the first thing they have in common is that they love each other. Rosie's differences look a lot like a disability at the beginning. She is in a nest placed in a high tree, and her family is getting ready to migrate, and of course Rosie can't fly. But her family finds a solution, because they love her. And at the end, Rosie not only finds out she is able to do things raven can do, like collect food, but she also can do things they can't, like swim. 

Beautiful story, and great illustrations too.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.