I have experienced some wonderful moments with birds over the many years I have been rehabbing. Very oddly a simple story evolved because of a little sparrow. A very nice man called from south Texas since there were no rehabbers near him to help with a days old sparrow he had picked up. So we talked and I told him what I do with these tiny birds and even if he followed me perfectly, the odds were that the bird wouldn’t survive. But he persisted.
He sent me pictures but the first one captured my imagination. He named the little sparrow Kawaii-Kawaii and she not only survived, she thrived. Kawaii became the story I wanted children to hear. Amazing that she survived but was truly loved by this man with the big hand.
I didn’t know his name for a long time. All the pictures he sent were of his hand and Kawaii. Everyone knows the story of the ugly duckling that becomes a beautiful swan but Kawaii will never be that swan. Sparrows are plain, common little birds that most of us ignore. But not The Hand, he loves her and she has touch many lives.
So I wrote a children’s book about The Bird and The Hand, illustrated by Victoria Moore. It will be out before Christmas. I hope you enjoy it. The next book is about Wormwood, a little owl that didn’t die.
