This month’s book is Billy and Emma, by Alice Mead.

Billy and Emma are a pair of macaws who live at the Willowby Zoo. Two times a day, the birds put on a show. Billy climbs a ladder and rings a bell, and Emma plays the toy piano. One night a burglar steals Emma away. Billy is crestfallen and with the help of Nancy the crow, decides to find Emma.

Cooper thought this was a great book. She was happy that Billy and Emma were reunited and that the burglar was caught. She wished that the burglar had to spend more than three days in jail, but as Nancy the crow explains, “People aren’t punished much for hurting birds”.
Cooper enjoyed the big colorful illustrations (by Christy Hale), and thought the author’s note, which described the different birds in the book, was informative for young and older readers alike.