Bowerbird Brood by Aura Parker

Title: Bowerbird Brood

Author: Aura Parker

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st November 2024

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: I am a protector. Always watching, guarding … and shielding. Bowerbird’s nest is full. These fine eggs, whole and smooth … the perfect three! But will they hatch? From the creator of the best-selling Bowerbird Blues, comes this heart-warming ode to nature and a mother’s love for her young.

~*~

Aura Parker and her bowerbirds are back! The eggs are about to hatch in the nest, and the mother bird is watching, waiting, and protecting them. Three little eggs are sitting in the nest, three little lives ready to emerge into the world. The bowerbird doesn’t know if her eggs will hatch – because, in nature, nothing is certain. Aura Parker is back with another bowerbird book, and she is building on the world of the bowerbird, with its blues around its nest and pages where you can find treasures just like a bowerbird.

The first book was presented in blue tones, whilst this one is in green and earthy tones as it explores the journey of the mother bowerbird, whose nest is filled with blue things around her eggs. Aura’s second book that she has written and illustrated, using wonderful techniques and watercolours to create the evocative and gentle illustrations that help the story sing and come to life. It’s a calm story, and one that shows how a mother’s love works to encourage and care for her children, and to prepare them for the world.

Picture books like this are for everyone, and they have something in them that readers of all ages can appreciate. For younger readers, it may just be a fun story. For older readers, it could be a way of understanding the world and that not everything always works out the way we want it. For adults, it could be a poignant story about children growing up and spreading their wings as they set out into the world. However you read it, the layers of the story and the illustrations work together to create something that is truly magical for all ages.

Bowerbird Brood is another picture book that I have fallen in love with, and one that I hope will be widely loved and enjoyed. Aura Parker has a magical way with words and illustrations that works together as a whole, creating a story that will capture the imaginations of readers of all ages, whether it is the words, the pictures or both working together to make this story shine. Another great bowerbird book from Aura Parker.