"Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book." ~Jim Rohn

Title: The Mountain that Loved a Bird
Author: Alice McLerran
Illustrator: Eric Carle

This gentle, beautiful book touches my heart and very soul. It is a story of caring and love between two very different types of characters. One is a stunning little bird and the other a barren, very lonely mountain that wants the bird to stay and take up residence there.

" I am Joy, and I have come to greet you." She stops by one day to visit the mountain and she explains that she is looking to build a nest and establish a home for her baby birds. The mountain does not have water or trees and all the things that she that are necessary to sustain her family and allow them a good, healthy life. Joy has no choice but to fly on and search for new places that are adequate and safe for her nesting needs.

The mountain is distraught and in anguish because he loves the little bird and desperately wants her as a friend. The mountian begins to cry when it realizes she is unable to stay and fulfill his hearts desire of a loving companion. Hearing his agonizing pleas she is moved in her heart and she promises the mountain that each spring one of her children will come back to visit. She tells the mountain that she is a living creature, designed to die one day. Joy does pass on but as promised she sends her babies every year to visit and befriend the mountain. As the birds make their yearly sojourn they bring life to the mountain both literally and figuratively. Together they create a perfect home where everyone can exist happily for generations to come.

Eric Carle, the master illustrator, brings vibrant colours and life to the text on every page. The message is one of love and hope and is perfect for both young and old. A timeless, classic tale that needs to be on everyone's book shelf, right up there with the "Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. Highly recommended.

About the Author:

Alice McLerran

Alice McLerran was an "Army brat" and moved every year or so -- from Hawaii to Germany, from New York to Ecuador.

She still leads a gypsy life, traveling the world with her physicist husband and dividing time between their home in New York and their "dacha" in the mountains of Oregon. She's happy to visit schools anywhere! The McLerran cat, Shuwa, prefers to stay home.

"Children often ask me how I started being a writer, and I tell them: by loving stories. My mother made up stories at bedtime, and my grandmother was a story-teller as well. I always read, and read, and read. I think most writers do. One bit of luck, I think, was that from the first I wrote for others. Over the years I made countless poems and little books as gifts. When you write for real readers, of course you want to do your best."

About the illustrator:

Eric Carle

Children's book illustrator

Eric Carle is an American designer, illustrator, and writer of children's books. He is most famous for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a picture book with few words that has been translated into more than 55 languages.Wikipedia