Keith Among the Pigeons
Author & Illustrator: Katie Brosnan
Child’s Play International
Ages: 3-6 years old
Ultimately, the concluding moral — that one need not blend into society’s norms to find one’s place, and the value of finding/creating a tribe that sees and accepts you without judgment — is well-delivered.
Keith is not your run-of-the-mill kitty. Much in the spirit of an Elmer the Patchwork Elephant or a Ferdinand the Bull, this is a story of not fitting in with one’s given tribe.
Keith really likes pigeons. He doesn’t sit, move, or behave like other cats, especially the super-judgy Nigel and Hilda (who may or may not be his cat siblings). He longs to hang with the pigeons, protests for pigeon rights, yet scares the pigeons with his cat-like appearance. In turns, he tries to be like the birds and tries to be like the cats, and ultimately finds kinship and self-acceptance for being “a Keith.”
It takes a bit to understand what’s going on in this book – it relies on the pictures to carry the plot for awhile. The sparse language at the outset makes the pictures all the more important. Thankfully, the pictures can carry the action fairly well.
Ultimately, the concluding moral — that one need not blend into society’s norms to find one’s place, and the value of finding/creating a tribe that sees and accepts you without judgment — is well-delivered. And it’s a useful lesson for kids to learn and metabolize as they grow and see all the rules around them.
This is a sweet book with a useful message.
Ages: 3-6, just as society rules start to become a bigger part of kids’ consciousness.
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More books for this Age Group can be found here.
My thanks to Child’s Play International for providing a Review Copy of this book. All opinions provided herein are my own.
Please, leave comments! I love a HEALTHY exchange of ideas. After all, critical thinking is essential to life.
Emily Work–Contributor
Emily is a mom, a book-lover, a lawyer, and has been fascinated by politics and theater from a very young age. The mom part has been both the most challenging and the most rewarding of her pursuits, and it has justified the reading and re-reading of ever-so-many kid books over the last 14 years. Emily cares way more about government policy than most regular people, and has been known to watch C-span on-purpose for long periods of time. Also, she has opinions. Far too many opinions for a girl, as she has frequently been told, to no avail.
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