Taka Wants To Fly — Irene Berman

Ma and Pa Ostrich have a clutch of eggs that are almost ready to hatch. But while Ma Ostrich is out for her morning stroll, another egg rolls in front of her so she kindly takes it home to be with her own. Soon her own chicks hatch, as does the stranger chick, who they call Taka. He is welcomed into the family and treated exactly as one of their own. But no matter how much he tries to do the same things as his playmates, he struggles to do what they do and looks odd too. What's more he has a constant longing to stretch his wings and fly up into the sky. But the ostrich family fear that he will come to terrible harm and stop him from flying. After all, ostriches simply don't fly. It isn't long before a terrible drought begins and the ostrich family are desperate for water. Taka wants to help and says if they'll alow him, he could fly until he can find a place where there is water. And sure enough, that is what Taka does. It's then that the ostriches realise that Taka isn't really an ostrich at all but a magnificent eagle. The rhyming verse is accompanied by charming and often humourous illustration, that are bound to capture the imagination of young readers.