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Starling's Song (The) by Octavie Wolters

Title: Starling's Song (The)

Author: Octavie Wolters

Translator: Michele Hutchinson

Illustrator:

Publisher: Pushkin Children's Books

Date Published: 2023

Format: Hardback

Genre:

Book Category: Picture Book

Age Range: 6-8

Original Title: First published in Dutch as Het lied van de spreeuw, Uitgeverij Ploegsma, The Netherlands, 2021

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Starling's Song (The)

by Octavie Wolters
Age Range: 6-8

This exquisite and unusual picture book marries lilting poetic text with stunning linocut illustrations.

As a solitary starling flies over land everything seems beautiful to him – the clear sky, meadows of grass, fields of corn, the blossom blowing in the wind and the snow-capped mountains. He wants to sing a song about how lovely it all is and will sing it to anyone who will listen. As he meets other birds along the way they each want to add to his song. The woodpecker says “Don’t forget to sing about the trees” says the Woodpecker while the owl feels it’s important to remember the night. For the kingfisher it’s water, and for the robin, it’s the beauty of the flowers when they wither and the swallows want the rocks to be included as they know everything. The mother duck and her ducklings tell the starling he should sing about life and the peacock to sing about himself. Finally, the starlings tell him to sing about us.

This is a multi-layered book by Dutch author and illustrator Octavie Wolters with a beautiful lyrical translation by Michele Hutchison. On one lev, there is the starling who wants to create a song to sing about the beauty of the world and his bird companions who want to add to it providing a rhythmical quality with the use of repetition “Don’t forget to sing about ” each time. But on another level, it is quite profound with the philosophical messages from each bird broadening the starling’s song and reminding the reader of the wonders of our natural world.

As evocative as the text is, the story truly comes into its own through the enchanting black and white linocuts with the only dash of colour being the starling’s bright yellow beak and feet. The artwork is mesmerising and Wolters has captured the different birds so beautifully.

The Starlings Song is all the more poignant as the number of starlings has declined by 66 per cent since the 1970s and they remain on the endangered list in the UK. These funny and tenacious birds “who are only together as one” as they squabble over food, cluster on rooftops making lots of noise or at sunset take to the sky in a murmuration need more than ever be celebrated.

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