Bird’s Eye View by Sophie Masson, illustrated by Lorena Carrington

Title: Bird’s Eye View

Author: Sophie Masson, illustrated by Lorena Carrington

Genre: Poetry

Publisher: Pardalote Press

Published: November 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 48

Price: $20

Synopsis: Flying high above us or landing at our feet; chattering in the park, and wheeling in the air; in the forest and the plain, the land and the sea, the city and the country, bords live alongside us, with our world and their world, touching and meeting in a special kind of many-voiced, many-winged magic. Bird’s Eye View is a little chapbook of words—poetry and prose—and black and white images, which together form glimpses into the world of birds, and the world as seen by birds.

~*~

One of Sophie Masson’s new books is a beautiful poetry book called Bird’s Eye View. It is a series of poems and a couple of stories told through the perspective of birds, or about birds. And one of the stories – a Feather of Fenist the Falcon – is reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, but with a few differences – the girls have names in this story, and the feather is the catalyst – but the story leaves off at a mysterious point which I loved. Each poem is lovingly crafted and partnered with evocative illustrations from Lorena Carrington.

The poems have elements of fairy tales and folk tales, but also, celebrate the birds in our lives, the currawongs, the kookaburras, and the cockatoos, and the world of the sky that they inhabit.  There is a magic in the world the birds inhabit, illustrated through the evocative words Sophie has created, that transport us to worlds beyond what we know. It is a world of feathers and song – which is beautiful and delightful, as I feel like we are headed on a magical journey, and one where we get to see the world from a different perspective, and a different understanding.

Sophie and Lorena have worked together on several projects, and much like those, Bird’s Eye View is exquisite. It has pulled words and images together in a wonderful way that shows that there is power in words and images, and the ways that they work together on the page to tell a story through prose and poetry, and I loved the way these two forms of storytelling appeared together, and worked to evoke a sense of wonder in this little book that I think will be loved and well-received.  I loved this book, and I think it is lovely. I read this in one sitting – it is easy to do so, because I felt like I melted into the poems and the book, and felt like I was swept away in delightful and magical ways.

I think this is a book that many people who love poetry will enjoy, and as it is from a new small publisher in Australia, Pardalote Press, I hope that it does very well, because the initiative that Sophie and Lorena have come up with is fantastic, and I love the offerings they have sent me from Pardalote Press.