Adorable full color artwork to accompany each idiom!! And if you fill a children’s book with animals and humor – I’m in!!! This book was precious!! I was given a digital copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is great for teaching English and specifically to ESL ( English Second Language Learners) I did find it bothersome that the text of meaning and sentence example were upside down in this version of the book-- I kept having to flip my computer upside down. I would recommend this book to my students aiming to learn Idioms coming from animals . The illustrations we quirky, interesting and also helpful for understanding the idiom in that it can help spark a discussion with ones students.

Thank-you Netgalley for the opportunity to view this book and leave my honest review.

A great resource for teaching children idioms. I love the fact that it is illustrated in a way that can challenge children to try to figure out the idiom on their own. At the bottom of the page it tells the explanation on what each idiom is meant to mean. Just overall this is a well thought out and executed educational book.

This book is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Birds of a Feather A Book of Idioms and Silly Pictures is a delightful picture book that appeals to children of all ages. Idioms are turns of phrase whose meaning are not directly related to the words alone. If you say “it's raining cats and dogs” near a young child, you can practically see the gears turning as they picture the animals falling from the sky. Author Vanita Oelschlager has created a book that plays upon this concept. Each page contains a humorous illustration by Robin Hegan depicting the literal meaning of the words in a common idiom. The illustrations will engage very young children and make them giggle. I especially enjoyed “Look what the cat dragged in.” with the drag racing feline and the “no spring chicken” pictured up to its neck in a mound of snow.

This book is not only entertaining, it is also a fantastic educational tool. The author believes that idioms show a language's sense of humor. Oelschlager states “They're your language's ticklish spots, so learning them can be lots of fun”. Young children can be encouraged to guess what the phrase actually means. When the book is turned upside down, readers are provided with a definition of the phrase and an example of it used in a sentence. Caregivers and early childhood teachers can explain the meanings of the phrase. But this book isn’t just for young children. It is also
perfect for teachers of older students who can use this book to launch a Language Arts lesson on idioms. English as a second langue teachers have found it useful as well.

The relatively small print for this information was probably intended so as to not interfere with the pictures. However, I would have preferred it if this area had used larger print, so that older children would be able to read this information with ease. At the end of the book, the author discusses the “hidden meaning” of idioms and gives an example explaining the derivation of “barking up the wrong tree”. She then encourages readers to explore the origins of other phrases. As someone who often wonders about the origin of a phrase, I couldn’t help but be disappointed that she did not also provide the sources of the other phrases pictured in this book. Whether you are sharing this book with a little one or teaching grammar, this book is out of this world.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an impartial review.

Birds of a Feather by Vanita Oelschlager was such a fun read. Besides it’s silliness and awesome illustrations, the book is educational showing different idioms and their meanings. Young children will love this and I would use it in teaching.

Thank you Netgalley and VanitaBooks, LLC for the ARC. The opinions of this review are my own.

This book was so much fun, I loved the different words, I’m sure it’s going to help a lot of kids learn more about idioms.
The illustrations too were so well done and fitted the book perfectly.
I’m definitely recommending it!

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this early copy

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This is a fun book introducing children to the concept of idioms.

Confession: Since I was looking at this on my laptop, I missed the explanations, which are in small print and upside down on the page. Without defining the idiom, I wondered how useful the book would be. But with the idiom, excellent illustrations, and definitions, this is a fun way to open up discussions regarding idioms.

The illustrations and explanations work beautifully together. Educators, this is a book you may want to check out.
My thanks to NetGalley and Vanita Oelschlager for an ebook to review.

This is an absolutely charming children’s book with terrific graphics illustrating the various idioms. My 4 year old laughed and laughed as we talked about the phrases and what they really mean! Then he wanted to draw his ideas of the different phrases. This book is perfect to help children understand idioms. Note: I loved it too & the fun we had discussing and playing with words!

This is a fantastic children’s book. I’m babysitting and decided to read the kids something other than what they already own. This one was great. The pictures are so well done and made us all giggle. The idioms gave us something to discuss. Anything that gets kids to stop looking at TV or video games and looking at a book is 5 stars to me!

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me this book. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

Book Description
Children are innately curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh (""Ants in your pants!""), sound silly (""Barking up the wrong tree"" or ""Goosebumps"") or trigger images that tickle a child's sense of the absurd (""Like a bull in a china shop""). Birds of a Feather introduces children to the magic of idioms words that separately have one meaning, but together take on something entirely different. Birds of a Feather introduces idioms with outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. The reader then has to guess the ""real"" meaning of the phrases (which is upside down in the corner of each spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learn more about these figures of speech.

Great illustrations that show different idioms. Young children will love this and each page has an explanation of what the idiom means.

This book is absolutely hilarious! I know everyone loves punny books, but this is more than that, the artful and funny drawings paired with idioms. Of course, this book is (and will be) fun and useful ways to teach kids idioms, but I also see it as a great and fun resource for those who are learning English as a second language, especially children – this is a fun, fun way to learn new ways to use the language and it will motivate to learn even more of the new language.

HILARIOUS!!!!! The illustrations make this book. I was laughing out loud while reading it to my one year old.

File will not open and I cannot get it in any other form. I probably would have liked this one. Tried to find it on Hoopla and at my library, but they didn't have it. Sorry I can't review.

First and foremost, I would love to thank NetGalley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this advanced copy. This book is enjoyable. Recommended

Birds of a Feather by Vanita Oelschlager was such a fun read. This quick read was the perfect way to put some questions to rest. Having little kids always ready with a "what's this mean, what's that mean" this was a great way to entertain them. It was fun to show pictures to help explain what the idioms mean and how they are demonstrated was spot on! We all had a laugh and enjoyed looking at the illustrations and fun colors.

Birds of a Feather focuses on the meaning of famous idioms. It's fun and well illustrated.
It would be easier to read as a physical book since the answers are upside down (not so easy to check when using a computer), but other than that, it's a quirky, interesting book to teach kids about these types of phrases.

This book is absolutely adorable for children to be entertained with. This is a silly book for kids to enjoy reading or having it be read to them by someone else. The illustrations are funny.

Birds of a Feather is a cute and silly book as promised; kids will enjoy reading or having it read to them! Bonus: flamingos are on the cover, which in my opinion, makes it awesome.

Super adorable book to learning original meaning behind the idioms. With such cute comical illustrations and hilarious I can see this book will easy become all age kids's favourite. Extra fun when they are birds fans.


Thank you Netgalley and VanitaBooks, LLC for provided my copy, the opinions are my own.

Stop what you're doing and buy this book if you're needing a playful and exceptionally interesting read for your kiddo, students or DEFINITELY AS A GIFT!

I was thoroughly impressed with Birds of a Feather- I thought it was delightful and cute! The illustrations are SPOT ON and perfect for younger ages who actually might think that the idiom means what the picture implies (I mean, idioms are so weird and don't make sense so who can blame them!) It's a perfect way to spark a class discussion/dialogue and connect through laughing- because this book is hilarious. I was smiling the whole way through. It's a perfect picture book to be read in a group setting, the explanation of the idiom is upside down and in small print- allowing (and encouraging) the reader to use this as a game or activity while not giving away the answer easily.
The illustrations will have everyone roaring and jumping at the chance to scream what they think it means and I can only imagine the crazy scenarios and stories that will come of it!

My only complaint is that there was one idiom that explained the initial meaning behind it and I wish that all of them had the back-story and where the phrase came from- I'm sure us adults would learn a lot from that piece too!

Something that will also stick with me is that the author said the book was written because there is humor in language- that idioms are 'your language's ticklish spot' and I could not agree more. I never thought of words as fun when I was little, but I find it extremely important that we show our younger generation that learning doesn't have to be boring.

I was laughing out loud to myself page by page...especially with 'Bringing home the bacon' because I'd love to do that (literally bringing home a pig AND bringing home some moolah!).

Note to the author: pleeeeeease write a sequel (and more)!