by Norm Feuti
2021 / 64 pages
If you’re like me and can’t get enough of comic duos, here’s another odd couple pairing you’ll want to get to know. Ally is an alligator that appreciates his alone time, and Beak is a Yellow-Bellied Fee Boo bird, new to the swamp, and eager to make friends. She’s also blissfully unaware that predators and prey don’t usually spend quality time together, so she makes her introductions by way of landing on Ally’s snout.
Ally isn’t the most receptive, and is even quite annoyed by Beak’s “Fee Boo” song. But when a Long-Bill Party Pooper kicks Beak out of her new nest, it’s Ally to the rescue.
This is light-hearted fun, and not really meant as anything more. That said, it could be used by a parent to talk about what it means to be open to friendship with folks who don’t share exactly the same interests.
There are three more in the series so far. In Bedtime Jitters Beak has trouble sleeping, because of all the weird sounds that happen in the swamp at night. Thankfully, Ally is there to explain that the Zump Zump Monster was just a bullfrog, and the Chatter Ghosts are just cicadas, and so on. They do get a little excitement when their night-time excursion leads them to some humans about to dump a load of trash in the swamp, but Beak and Ally make their own scary sounds and scare them away. In The Big Storm Beak senses a storm is coming and gets her nest ready. Ally is a little skeptical, but as the winds pick up, he starts helping smaller animals make it to cover, and when he later discovers his own home ruined, these neighbors pitch in to help – this is a sweet feel-good story. Finally, in Snow Birds, vacationing birds take advantage of Beak’s good nature, and it is up to Ally to set some ground rules, and clear up the misunderstanding.
The only caution for the series would a language concern in The Big Storm, where Beak says, “Oh my gosh.”
This would be a wonderful series for Grades 2 though 4.
