Weaver, Jo. Bibi: A Flamingo’s Tale. Peachtree, 2023. 978-1-682-63553-7. Unpaged.  $18.99. Grades PreK-2.

Bibi, which means “grandmother” in Swahili, is the matron of her flock of flamingos. She teaches the others how to stand on one leg, how to preen their feathers, how to dance on the lake and shows parents how to build mud nests. After the babies are born, they learn how to walk, but it will be some time before they can fly. This creates a problem, because the extreme heat has caused the water at the lake’s edge to recede and the flamboyance must fly to a new source of fresh water. Since the baby flamingoes will have to walk there, Bibi offers to lead them. One chick called Toto is too exhausted to set out on the journey. Bibi decides that she and the other young birds will wait until he is rested and proceeds to tell them stories of life in the lake. Now rested, the group sets off again across the unforgiving desert and finally reaches water. As the summer ends, the entire flock, including the flaminglets, must fly to a new destination. Bibi, as the oldest member, feels she is too old and tired to fly. This time the avian community comes to her rescue, giving her time to get stronger until she is ready to join them in flight. The pink and gray illustrations created by the author are done in charcoal and then digitally colored. Weaver manages to instill some flamingo personality into these large scale drawings. The author includes a brief note about the migration habits of the lesser flamingo. The adult birds fly to Tanzania from East Africa, while the chicks, accompanied by a few adults, cross a salt desert of twenty miles to get there. 

THOUGHTS: This beautiful tale shows how some animals work together to help their community survive. A great choice for elementary collections.

Picture Book