#863 of 1001 · December 11, 2022

Sharon King-Chai’s Starbird gives us an original fairy tale of beauty, wonder, greed, sorrow, and understanding. When the wealthy and powerful Moon King learns that he is to have a daughter, he wishes to give her an extraordinary gift. He therefore traps Starbird, a legendary creature with a beautiful voice. As the princess grows older, she detects a note of sadness in her pet’s nightly song. Filled with pity, she frees the captive animal. Starbird roams here and there about the land in search of his home, but the Moon King, with his cold, piercing gaze, hunts him down once more. As the wondrous bird wastes away in a cage, only the princess’s voice can reach her father and sway his heart towards mercy. King-Chai weaves themes of love and kindness together with magical imagery. Her cool-toned, flat-style multimedia illustrations, creates through a combination of paint, ink, leaves, potatoes, feathers, collage, and digital technique, gleam with silver foil stamping. #star #bird #moon #king #princess #father #daughter #love #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks