#677 of 1001 · June 8, 2022

This is a touching tale of loneliness, regret, and lost love: Kathleen and Michael Hague’s The Legend of the Veery Bird. The story is set on the edge of a forest full of fairies and ancient magic. A young boy named Veery has great difficulty communicating, as he speaks with a stutter. As he grows, he becomes deeply self-conscious and prefers to spend his time among the trees, away from people. When his father dies, he feels unable to express his sadness, even to his beloved mother. Soon afterward, the boy meets a being known as the Keeper of the Forest, who gifts him with the power of song, but makes him promise to sing only for her. Veery is able to keep his oath for a long time, but after many years, as he sits by the side of his dying mother, he grants her final request and sings her to rest. Thereafter, Veery can no longer find the Keeper of the Forest, with whom he has fallen in love. The force of his grief transforms him into a bird, and he soars through the night sky. When the morning comes, the Keeper of the Forest welcomes him back into her embrace, and leaves a little bird in his place. Wife Kathleen Hague’s eloquent prose and husband Michael Hague’s rich watercolor and gouache paintings combine for a dramatic original etiological fairy tale. #bird #forest #woods #fairy #fairies #sing #singing #song #voice #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks