Fly Like a Bird – Perfect Picture Book Friday

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In FLY LIKE A BIRD, Olga Ptashnik inhabits the mind of a chickadee nestling, a baby bird that has not yet learned how to fly. The nestling is overwhelmed at the thought, asking question after question, ones that Mama bird patiently answers.

I’m sure many parents will recognize the fear of an anxious child embodied by this tiny bird. The unknown is vast and scary, where all kinds of dangers lurk. Anxiety at not already knowing “how,” at not being “enough,” not having big enough wings, wings that beat fast enough, or…..you name it. Anxiety can be endless.

Anxiety can cause physical symptoms and, if left unaddressed, can become all-consuming. I was an anxious child and afraid to attend birthday parties, perform at piano or violin recitals, go to school… The list went on and on. Instead of addressing my anxiety, I was taken to the doctor, where he accused my mother of giving me ulcers. Poor mom. It was always the mother’s fault. No one was very enlightened, least of all me. So I’m glad that there are more books now to help kids (and parents) recognize and face their fears.

I’m also glad that this book does this indirectly through this interesting STEM layer.

Oh, the “what if I never learn to fly?” Poor little chickadee. Mama emphasizes that “all birds have wings, feathers, beaks, and tails, but we use them in different ways.”

And if I extend this insight to humans, we all have different kinds of arms and legs and brains and eyes and mouths, etc., but each of us chooses to use them in different ways. How will YOU choose to be or move through this world? It’s your decision. And yes, having to decide creates anxiety. (I’m thinking of all the high school and college graduates who face career decisions.)

Page after page Mama offers up examples of how other birds that are not chickadees fly, each time little chickadee comes up with a different kind of objection or question. The way other birds do things just doesn’t feel right to her.

Mama includes birds that stay on the ground or swim. This lets little chickadee know that there are birds that don’t take to the air. The subtext being, you don’t have to fly if you don’t want to, giving little chickadee the space to decide for herself.

This relieves some of the pressure, and little chickadee makes up her mind, saying she was “born to fly. It must be such an amazing feeling.” But how?

After all of Mama’s examples are absorbed by that tiny chickadee, she decides she’s going to fly “the way chickadees do it.” And then she leaves the nest, “not very high or very fast [like other kinds of birds], but singing a cheerful song!” Yes, she decides to fly like the rest of her species, but she’s decided that for herself, no pressure from Mama. (What terrific parenting!)

Bird species and the way they fly (or don’t) include hummingbirds, albatrosses, penguins, pelicans, swifts, ostriches, falcons, starlings, owls, condors, and chickadees. I love how the end papers show feathers from each of these birds. There’s also a spread of back matter, describing each of the birds in more detail. And though Olga created the illustrations digitally, they have the feel of muted, earth-toned watercolors, brushed into the paper with translucent strokes.

This is a beautiful book that not only offers insight into birds and the way they move, but into the heart of anxiety and ways to address it through story as well!

Activities:

Make a nest from twigs, leaves, grasses, etc. Then fold an origami mama and baby bird, using two different sizes of paper and place them in the nest.

Act out the story as a two-person play.

Pair this book with After the Fall by Dan Santat. How do the two books approach fear differently? How are they similar? Why do you think one illustrator chose to present the topic using more realistic illustrations while the other is more fanciful?

For parents: what to do/or not do if your child has anxiety.

Title: Fly Like A Bird

Author/Illustrator: Olga Ptashnik

Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025

Ages: Preschool through elementary

Themes: birds, anxiety, STEM

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.