The publisher says...

Extraordinary imagery and rich language spark the reader's imagination as they enter the creative world of a young girl. 

From award-winning author Meg McKinlay and celebrated artist Matt Ottley comes a moving and visually stunning picture book that celebrates the transformative power of the creative process from inception through recognition to celebration and releasing into the world. We shadow the protagonist as she contemplates the blue print of an idea, collects the things that inspire from the natural world to shape a bird. And breathes life into it before letting it fly free. It shows how small things, combined with a little imagination and a steady heart, can transform into works of magic. 

The illustrator says...

Click on the below icon to watch a video created by Matt Ottley, giving an insight into his illustrative approach for How to Make a Bird.

The author says...

Click on the below icon to watch a video created by Meg McKinlay sharing the story of how How to Make a Bird came into being.

The CBCA judges say...

Detailed, delicate and gently philosophical; in its movement from the practical to the universal this book suggests that there is more to a life than replicated parts. McKinley and Ottley expand poignantly on the wonder of migratory birds while alluding to all-encompassing issues such as climate change in the illustrative reference to a house built high above the tide. There is a subtle but definite suggestion to take chances and breathe life into new ideas — perhaps the house so high is a reference to the child living with her head in the clouds, perhaps it is simply the place she goes to explore her ideas.

The Reading Time reviewers say...