Hello cocky: A stickybeak at the cockatoo by Hilary Bell & Antonia Pesenti

Seeing a brilliant life size picture of a cockatoo on the cover of Hello Cocky I knew that I was in for a treat.

Who rules the skies from back garden to bush,
Launching from trees with a screech and a whoosh?
Bossy and smart, loves to put on a show,
Who could it be now? Why, Cocky — hello!

With the publicity about cockatoos doing different dances, young and old readers will be interested to see what fabulous facts Hilary Bell and Antonia Pesenti have to offer about this intriguing species of bird. The reader is taken into the snug little nest inside a gum tree, ready to have a stickybeak at the cockatoo, who is ready to have a stickybeak back! With rhyming text, the reader learns that they are inquisitive, there are different kinds and all are clever and love having fun. Readers will be amazed at the idea of them divebombing traffic and opening bins to find food and rip up paper and will have fun imitating their squealing and squawking and reading that Fred the sulphur crested cockatoo in the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary has lived to be 100 years old. There is some new vocabulary for young children to learn as well with words like stickybeak, intrigued, waddle and preen bringing vivid mental pictures

The illustrations are gorgeous, pictures of the cockatoos set against bright blues, reds, greens and yellows. I particularly loved the final pages showing a flock of cockies against a sunset and a pair flying to their nest in a hollow tree. Each of the cockatoos has a personality of their own, often having what looks like a cheeky grin or a curious glint in the eye.

Hello Cocky: A stickybeak at the cockatoo is a highly recommended nonfiction rhyming story, joining othe rtales about this well-known bird. Readers might like to look at Who's the gang on our street? by Suzanne Gervay, Cockatoo wars by Helen Milroy and Cato's can can by Juliet Sampson.  

Themes: Cockatoos, Story in rhyme.

Pat Pledger