Learn All About Friendship with Elwood Bigfoot and His Birdie Friends!

When everyone hears the name Bigfoot they immediately tend to think hairy, frightening, and massive, but in the story of Elwood Bigfoot, Wanted: Birdie Friends, Elwood is nothing like the Bigfoot we tend to imagine. Elwood may be large, clumsy, and loud, but he is also lonely and willing to do just about anything to make a friend. With his stature, it is clear that he is having trouble forming friendships, especially since the friends are these tiny, delicate birds.

Throughout the story Elwood tries many things to become friends with the birds. As he listened to their cheerful songs and chirps, Elwood scared them out of their tree when he tried to speak to them. Elwood shouted “Come back birdie! Be my Friend!”, but that just frightened the birds away. Elwood tried numerous times to get the bird’s attention, from building a tree house, throwing a party, and even dressing like a bird. By the way, that did not go over too well for Elwood when he tried to fly! Elwood realized that is was not easy to make friends, but he persevered and kept trying to befriend the tiny birds. His last attempt left him feeling heartbroken and defeated.  Just as he was ready to give up, something extraordinary happened. A bird landed on Elwood and he fed it a beetle. The rest is history; more birds continued to land on Elwood, and his dreams came true! Elwood was no longer lonely, and he had made many great new friends.

Not only is this book, published by Sterling Children’s Books, written and illustrated beautifully, it’s also a great way to help young children understand the concept of friendships. As adults we all know that forming new friendships can be difficult, take a lot of work, and at times can leave us feeling bruised and alone, but when we do finally find that friendship, suddenly everything falls into place and we tend to forget about the times that we were feeling alone like Elwood.

My children, ages 3 and 6, enjoyed listening to Elwood Bigfoot, Wanted Birdie Friends as a bedtime story. They were captivated by the bright pictures and heartwarming plot. It is a story with a familiar character that most readers will be able to identify with.

If you have a little one who would enjoy this book, you can grab Elwood Bigfoot at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.  Books make some of the best gifts, in my opinion, and this one would not be an exception!