Daniel Duncan

When a lonely fisherman finds an injured bird on his boat, he nurses his avian visitor back to health, enjoying his company in the process, and forming a bond of true friendship with him. As the bird heals, the fisherman realizes that his boat is no proper home, and he heads south, setting sail in order to find his winged companion a new land...

A debut from London-based author/illustrator Daniel Duncan, South put me in mind of a number of other recent picture-books I have read, from Marianne Dubuc's poignant The Lion and the Bird, about a lion who nurses an injured bird back to health, to Benji Davies' The Storm Whale, about a young fisherman's son who rescues and then liberates a stranded whale. Tales of rescuing injured and/or endangered animals, and then setting them free at the proper time, seem quite popular in the world of picture-books these days. However that may be, while the story here was engaging enough, it was the artwork that had the strongest appeal for me. I enjoyed the visuals, from the decorative end-papers to the details of the boat interiors. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories that encourage a humane and responsible course of action, when interacting with injured wildlife.… (mer)