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How to Make a Bird: 06/02/21
How to Make a Bird by Meg McKinlay and Matt Ottley (Illustrator) is an Australian picture book recently released here in the United States. The book follows a nameless child who is gathering together bits and bobs along an unnamed beach to construct a bird. Taken at it's broadest interpretation, the recipe for making a bird is a representation of the creative project. It's the gathering of supplies to fit an idea. It's trial and error. It's seeing the creative process to its conclusion. The description reads like the "Making of a Man" — an alchemic recipe immortalized in a variety of works of art from Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa (2002) to Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith (2006). Below is the Steeleye Span song based on the novel.
The lesson though of "Making of a Man" is that the basic recipe isn't what makes a person. This basic recipe isn't what makes a bird and outright excludes a wide range of flightless birds. It also misses the sheer amount of work the creative process takes. Three stars Comments (0)
1997-2023 Sarah Sammis |
