Nerdy Birdy Tweets

July 17, 2017
Nerdy Birdy and Vulture, who became pals in 2015’s Nerdy Birdy, return in this social media–themed sequel, which puts their relationship to the test after Nerdy Birdy starts making online friends on Tweetster and ignoring the friend right in front of him. After @nerdybirdy tweets an unflattering lunch photo of @vulturegirl (“She eats dead things. Ewwwwwww!!”), Vulture has had enough, leading to a line that seems to sum up the book’s reason for existence: “Just because you thought it, doesn’t mean you should tweet it.” It’s advice that translates just fine to nondigital situations (“If you can’t say something nice...”), but despite Reynolds’s sharp dialogue and Davies’s appealingly ugly-cute illustrations, the plot feels mismatched to the book’s audience—though kids will get the Angry Worms reference just fine. Ages 4–8. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management.

July 1, 2017
An unlikely avian friendship is threatened by an obsession with social media in this follow-up to Nerdy Birdy (2015).Big slouchy Vulture and Nerdy Birdy, tiny and brown with big, round eyeglasses, are best friends, though they're very different. Nerdy Birdy loves playing video games, while Vulture loves snacking on dead things. Together, they enjoy taking goofy pictures of each other, making silly faces, and making fun of each other's lunch. One day, Nerdy Birdy discovers an amazing new game. It's called Tweetster; it does awesome things. After a week, Nerdy Birdy has over 500 new friends across the globe, but he doesn't seem to notice the friend right in front of him. Vulture gets bored and flies away, but joining Tweetster herself restores common ground between the friends. But when Vulture logs onto the site, she finds a picture of herself and an insulting caption from Nerdy Bird. This thoughtless act causes Vulture to flap away for good. Nerdy Birdy reaches out for sympathy to his virtual network, but the response is underwhelming. Determined to find Vulture, Nerdy Birdy searches high and low, finally finding her and declaring, "One real live you is worth a thousand Tweetster friends." Reynolds' friendship fable is straightforwardly told. Davies' lively and imaginative pictures, in pen, ink, and watercolor, consistently delight. But are very young readers, at whom the book seems aimed, using social media? Still, cute and clever, and if it gives some prophylactic friendship pointers to children not yet networked, here's hoping they'll remember them. (Picture book. 3-5)

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January 1, 2018
Diminutive, bespectacled, smartphone-carrying Nerdy Birdy and hulking, hooded-eyed Vulture make an odd-couple pair of best friends. The friendship works well, though--until Nerdy Birdy joins "Tweetster." All of a sudden, he's more concerned with the attention of his virtual friends than of his actual one. The story avoids preachiness by incorporating myriad LOL-worthy details into the wry text and scratchy pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoon illustrations.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2017
Diminutive, bespectacled, smartphone-carrying Nerdy Birdy and hulking, hooded-eyed, lunchbox-toting Vulture make an odd-couple pair of best friends: Nerdy Birdy loves playing video games. Vulture thinks video games are boring.Vulture loves snacking on dead things. Nerdy Birdy thinks dead things are gross. The friendship works well, though--good-natured ribbing and all--until Nerdy Birdy discovers social media. Nerdy Birdy joins Tweetster and is immediately consumed. All of a sudden, he's more concerned with the attention of his virtual friends than of his actual one. Then Nerdy Birdy goes too far by posting a dis of Vulture: @vulturegirl is a messy eater. She eats dead things. Ewwwwwww!! Vulture flies off in a huff, and Nerdy Birdy must make amends. The story avoids preachiness by incorporating myriad LOL-worthy details into the wry text and scratchy pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoon illustrations; the picture of Vulture chowing down is funny and gross, and most importantly, it is a part of the established teasing culture of the pair's friendship--which doesn't let Nerdy Birdy off the hook, but you can see where he's coming from. There's a lesson here about how easy it is to misread and misuse tone when it comes to electronic communication, but it's the entertaining birds-of-a-feather friendship dynamic that's the biggest tweet, er, treat for readers. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)