The Paradise Bird by Marcus Pfister (Minedition)

Looking out of the window at ReaditDaddy Towers, the British summertime seems a long way away and staring out across the woods, I can see a poor crow sitting at the top of one of the willow trees, looking very sad and forlorn.

It's quite like the way "The Paradise Bird" opens, Marcus Pfister's story introduces us to a pack of sullen ravens. They're bored, tired, fed up and one day seems to merge into another.

That is, until, a colourful stranger literally crashes in on their world, landing with a "whump" at their feet. The stranger is red and orange, blue and green and after jumping to life with a whoop of glee, he introduces himself as "The Paradise Bird".

The Paradise Bird doesn't hold with moping around, bored and listless. The Paradise Bird wants to PAR-TAY! And party he does, encouraging the sullen Ravens to move their feet, nod their heads and join in with a new song and dance routine.

At first, the ravens don't want to partake of this bizarre spectacle, but soon even the oldest raven finds himself tapping his claw and taking up the beat.

Before long there's a manic caw-caw-conga happening, and the ravens lives will never be the same ever again as the paradise bird shows them how to enjoy themselves.

A fab happy positive tale, full of fun moments. Get your most colourful feathers on, and boogie!

Charlotte's best bit: Everyone joining in with the caw-caw crazy Raven song and dance! Woohoo!

Daddy's Favourite bit: A bum-wiggling dance spectacular cheering up a grumpy bunch of sullen ravens. A great energetic little story for teenies!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Minedition)