Thoughtful compositions draw attention to dramatic moments, such as the enormous word balloon that marks Little Brown Bird’s first comical outburst, or the looming (and not amused) black Crow as he dominates the responsive spread, pushing Little Brown Bird nearly off the page. Portis’ artwork, digitally colored pencil, charcoal, and ink, keeps the visuals fairly simple, although some smudgy textures and careful shading add interest to the retro-toned pictures printed on matte paper. The story also provides plenty of opportunities for discussing word construction, phonics, and rhyme, and the format would lend itself to a readers theater or other performance. The text, preponderantly dialogue in and out of speech balloons, has a goofy humor that makes this a readaloud bonanza, and kids will love both the silly wordplay and the smaller birds’ persistent flouting of the Crow’s authoritarianism. As the smaller birds continue their silliness (“‘Buppy,’ ‘Scruppy,’ ‘Huphup-’”), Crow creeps closer until even he contributes a “Wuppy!” From then on, all the neighborhood birds enjoy sharing in the linguistic lunacy, and even the local cat (“Shmoodle!”) and dog (“Skerpoodle!”) get into the act. Little Brown Bird’s subsequent vocal creativity inspires Cardinal and Dove to join in the linguistic fun, while Crow is quite put out by this phonetic flight of fancy, and leaves in a huff-but doesn’t fly too far away. Her playful exclamation of “Froodle sproodle!” sends propriety-minded Crow into a tizzy. ISBN 9781596439221.A group of birds stick to their typical sounds at the beginning of this book, with Crow saying “caw,” Dove calling “coo,” Cardinal chirping “chip,” and Little Brown Bird uttering “peep,” until the day that Little Brown Bird decides to verbally branch out. I can imagine reading Froodle to children will be much fun for people of all ages. They insist Little Brown Bird return to simply saying 'Peep.' LBB, as many birders know sparrows, wrens, and other hard to identify little birds, complies at first but then exclaims 'Tiffle biffle, just a miffle! A revolution is declared. In Froodle by children's author/illustrator Antoinette Portis, everyday birds say their everyday things at first, day after day, through the seasons, until Little Brown Bird suddenly says 'Froodle sproodle!' Cardinal, Crow, and Dove are shocked. Each has a range of grunts, calls, chirps, etc. Animal, especially birds, are a bit more expressive.

'Quack quack' or 'Moo moo' or 'Cluck cluck.' Anyone who has been around animals, however, knows it is not so simple. On Old MacDonald's farm, every animal has only one thing to say.