Youth Services Book Review

Review of Cheryl Minnema's new book, Johnny's Pheasant

An encounter with a pheasant (which may or may not be sleeping) takes a surprising turn in this sweetly serious and funny story of a Native American boy and his grandma

This is a sweet story of a young boy who befriends a wild pheasant–if only for a very short time. The story begins with a young boy travelling in the car with his grandmother. He is staring out the window and suddenly notices a pheasant lying in the grass. It seems the pheasant might have been struck by a car, so the boy and his grandmother brought it home. The boy begins to communicate with the pheasant by flapping his wings and saying “hoot hoot”.  They are in the house for only a few short minutes when the pheasant flies around the living room and out the door. The little boy runs around outside with it for a few minutes, soaring and hooting, before it takes off into the distant sky. The pheasant does leave one souvenir–a beautiful single feather.

 

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