Crow

by Leo Timmers

Crow is black. Pitch-black. Everyone is afraid of him. But Crow knows what to do. He has got a plan....
Crow is a tragicomic story about four birds under high voltage.
Originally published: Hasselt, Belgium: Clavis Uitgeverij, 2009.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Birds, Childrens, Friendship

30 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Leo Timmers was born in 1970, in Belgium. Trained in Graphic Design he began to illustrate Children’s books. Gradually he started writing stories himself. In 2000 he received a Bookfeather Award for his illustrations in 'Happy with me'. He won the annual Children’s and Youth jury Award in both 2005 with ‘Just in time’ (written by Bart Demyttenaere) and 2006 with ‘Supermouse’.In 2007 he won with his picture book ‘Who is driving?' His books have been published in France, Spain, Norway, Finland, USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Korea, UK, Israel, Portugal, Germany and Japan. Leo also illustrates for magazines such as HUMO and various advertising agenciesOver the years his style has evolved, but it has always been marked by humour, form, colour, and incisive ideas. Leo lives in Brussels with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik heb dit boekje voornamelijk gekozen vanwege de hilarische cover. :) Die later toch niet zo hilarisch bedoeld was, maar ja dat weet je niet totdat je gaat lezen (of de blurb leest, maar die sla ik over op bol/bibliotheek catalogus vanwege spoilers).

En nu na het lezen kan ik zeggen dat de rest van het boek ook goed was! Een boek over verschillen, over bang zijn, over acceptatie.

Arme kraai, het enige wat hij wil is vriendschap, maar alles wat hij krijgt is vogels die bang voor hem zijn. Dus gaat hij iets proberen, iets wat best grappig is (maar ook wel zielig gegeven de situatie). Ik vond het resultaat wel verrassend. Ik had het zeker niet verwacht dat dat zou gebeuren.

Ik vond de kleine vogeltjes maar gemeen. Ze gaven Kraai nooit een kans om te laten zien dat hij ondanks zijn dreigende uiterlijk heel lief en aardig was.

Het einde was erg zoet en maakte me erg blij. Het was een beetje een standaard einde (je verwacht het gewoon), maar dat is niet erg.

Leuke tekeningen (maar dat is logisch gegeven dat ik de cover erg leuk vind).

Zeker een boek dat ik zou aanraden.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Megan M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another meh children's book from last week's library haul.

The artwork was fun and sort of reminded me of a Pixar movie on a page. However, I'm not sure that I loved the message of the book, which essentially boiled down to "please popular crowd, take advantage of me! I don't care, as long as I'm not alone!"

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story tells a necessary childhood truth about self-image, while also charming the reader/child with beautiful colorful illustrations. I enjoyed this book.

[Veronique Pauwels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boekje te gebruiken bij atelier : mens en maatschappij! Is het nodig om zich anders te gaan gedragen? Is het nodig om op een andere manier te handelen? Zouden ze dan meer van je houden dan je jezelf bent! In dit verhaaltje kom je het zeker te weten!

[Tugce Tuncdemir · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not like this book!
It seems to support anti-racism but definitely NOT!
When the crow colored himself and tried to resemble the others, it is the assimilationist's idea!
Also, other birds accepted him when they thought he saved their life.
We try to teach kids that we need to accept the others no matter what they look like! But this book offers the opposite!

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm fairly certain the author meant no harm by the main theme of this book:

Crow is black. Pitch-black. Other birds are afraid of him.

But, it's still somewhat disturbing to read the lines about how Crow's color makes him a "mean creature."

Crow tries to be like the other birds by painting his feathers garish colors in an attempt to gain acceptance . . .

. . . but fails miserably.

Let's just take it as a lesson in how you don't have to be something you're not in order to get others to like you.

Cute illustrations, iffy message.

[tk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall story was good, but because of the main character being a crow, the storyline emphasizes that "black is bad," which is a message I strongly disagree with. It would've been better served using a different animal/color given the state of social affairs as they are.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are amazing but the storyline and message of this book are highly questionable. I would not recommend this for storytime. I do think this might be a good conversation starter for topics like bullying, racism and popularity.

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really like this book very much. I would have trouble reading it because everyone is terrified and avoids the crow because he is black....seems a tad racist.

[Rebecca Greer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Racist undertones as well as overtones, explicitly clear when crow says no one likes him because he's black...

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik vind Kraai echt een pareltje onder de kinderboeken. Ik had dit boek erg graag willen hebben toen ik zelf klein was.

Volledige recensie lezen: http://gewoonsharon.nl/kinderboekenti...

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a cute simple concept book

[Ariellë · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5⭐

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure which came first - Crow or Angry Birds, because they're very similar in style. However, Crow is more appealing and a little lost - after all, we all need a friend, or three.

The use of such vibrant colour against Crow's severe blackness works well to emphasise the tale and it's meaning - without needing words to explain that some of us are just - well - different on the outside.

The facial expressions on the birds are just brilliant.

[Jessica Adams Duzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. I use it anytime I need a story about birds for young readers. It is about a crow who cannot get the other birds to play with him because he looks different. He then gets a brilliant idea to paint himself to look like the other birds, unfortunately this does not work. He scares the other little birds more. But when the paint washes away he finally makes friends by being exactly who he is...a big, scary, black crow who scares off the other "painted birds."

[Jeanette Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crow is very different from the other birds around him, and is more often than not made fun of by them. So Crow devises a plan to fit in by painting his black feathers multicolored in order to look more like the other birds, but the plan backfires and he ends up scaring everyone away. This beautifully illustrated tale shows young children the importance of acceptance and the detriments of prejudice.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crow is described as a tragicomedy and I would agree. It's a silly story that relates more to older readers or adults, but still fun for little ones. I did paraphrase a couple places in the book for my storytime audience. During the book we talked about color, counting, and top to toe to extend that story.

2015 Storytime theme: black birds

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Tina B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the bright colorful characters on an almost completely white setting. The message of "be yourself" and "it's not what you wear that is important" is shown not told, and the text is short enough I'll be able to use the book for storytime. A great book for 2010.

[Danica Midlil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still not real sure what the message of this book is... Big things are scary? The enemy of mine enemy is my friend?
The illustrations are delightful and Crow has such an expressive pixar quality to him. Too bad the story is a wee bit lacking.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost too short. The message of inclusion is nice, but it seems the other little birds only accept crow because he is an enforcer, not because they should.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crow is a simplistic entry for the Juvenile shelf, with the rather warmed-over message of "be yourself." The bold illustrations are the best part.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

the message is kind of watered down by the end but the illustrations are bright and beautiful!

[Justyn Rampa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stunning minimalistic artwork with a somewhat distorted version of "Be Yourself".

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this would be a cute storytime selection, but the grammar stickler in me was wondering...shouldn't Crow have said, "I wish I were different", rather than "I wish I was different"?

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

We thought this was going to be a big knock-off of Pixar's For the Birds but it wasn't. The illustration is exceptionally cool.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but the little birds were annoying, who wants to be friends with birds like that?

[Nancy Jo Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will review this one on my blog!

[Thia]

birds, being yourself

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a funny story about acceptance. The simple illustrations add to the simple message. My daughter loved this book after the first reading.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Crow with no friends!