I liked this book, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

I thought it would be a story about the birds (oxpeckers I think they’re called) and their relationship with an elephant.

It wasn’t that at all. It was pretty much all about the birds, although the elephant does play an important role in the story.

The message in this book is a good one, that friendship is more important than ‘stuff’ and also that friendships can be tricky, you can fight/argue/disagree, but you can also make up.

The illustrations are stunning, and I think they elevate this story to the next level.

Because elephants do have such an interesting symbiotic relationship with these birds, I would have liked a few facts in the back that talked about that aspect.

The Speckled Feather by Johanna Ries (@johanna.ries.illustration) is a book for Wildlife lovers.⁠
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The story is set in the African Savanna and it is about the friendship between an elephant and three birds. One of the birds finds a beautiful speckled feather and imagines itself better than the other birds. The other two birds want the speckled feather too. All three birds fight and the elephant has to do something to maintain peace between his friends.⁠
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I loved the illustrations in this book. They were warm and colorful. It is very difficult to capture the emotions of animals but the illustrator did justice to the story and showed emotions such as anger, jealousy, pride, and kindness. This story teaches the values of friendship and sharing. ⁠
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Thank you to @netgalley and @northsouthbooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.⁠
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Category: children’s picturebook ⁠
Age: 4+⁠
Published: May 2021

A very nice story about the importance of harmony and friendship - though I have to admit that the story pales in comparison to the truly gorgeous artwork!

This book is a little beauty.

Three birds are living on the back of an elephant. One day the wind blows a shiny feather into their midst, a fight breaks out and their thick-skinned friend has to step in.

The message of this one basically is, don’t be a selfish ass, friendship is more valuable than possessions.

This might not be the greatest children’s book I’ve ever read, the text being a little too simplistic and the whole thing being rather brief. But, boy, is the artwork gorgeous. I could look at these pages for hours. I just wish there were more of them.

You can take a look into the book (in its original language) here: https://nord-sued.com/programm/die-fleckenfeder/ (just klick on the glasses next to the cover)

A beautiful book with wonderfully detailed illustrations. The story has the feel of a traditional fable and shares the value of friendship and is useful important springboard to talk about arguments and sharing. This book would be a welcome addition to my preschool classroom.

Ok, first things first... this book is a joy to look at. The illustrations are truly fantastic.
The characters are well introduced, and we see a lesson learned in the end. Good moral!
Also, I have never read a book that had me recognize myself in an elephant before, and that sudden realization made me chuckle!

So, after years of not being able to read any children’s books that dealt with animals (which are some of my all-time favorite children’s books), I finally came upon a children’s book that dealt with animals called “The Speckled Feather” by Johanna Ries. I must say that I really enjoyed this cute little story about friendship!

The story starts off with three birds named Ade, Emem and Nuru who all live on the back of an elephant in the savanna. One day however, a beautiful speckled feather is blown into their midst and when one of the birds picks up the feather and sticks it to themselves, the other birds quickly got jealous and they wanted the speckled feather for themselves, despite the fact that this is ruining their friendship with each other.

Will the birds stop fighting over the feather to save their friendship?

Find out in this story!

Wow! This book was both fantastic and cute to read through! Johanna Ries has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this book! I just loved the way that Johanna Ries wrote this book as the narrative was simple yet impactful as the story shows the importance of friendship and how friends can argue with each other if something came between them. I was actually sitting on the edge of my seat, wondering if the birds will regain their friendship again, despite the appearance of the speckled feather. Johanna Ries also did a fantastic job at illustrating this book as the animals in this book look so realistic, especially the elephant that the three birds live on. I also loved the abstract look of the savanna as it has a simplistic look, but still conveys the appearance of the savanna pretty well.

Parents might be a bit concerned about one scene where the main characters are being chased by a predator. While this scene was pretty short, some smaller children might be a bit scared by the main characters being in any danger. Parents might want to read this scene first before reading it to their children.

Overall, “The Speckled Feather” is a fantastic children’s book about the importance of friendship and how your friendship is much more important than any materialistic thing. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to one intense scene in this book.

Beautifully illustrated with a great message about greed and friendship. The storyline and conflict were very simple and straightforward, which is perfect for the target age. It would have been nice to see the three birds solve their conflict and learn to compromise instead of having the cause of jealousy and conflict completely removed by something outside of their control so that there is an actual lesson learned.

5 stars!
#NetGalley #TheSpeckledFeather

Loved the idea of three friends who one day become entangled in an argument over a speckled feather found on the Savannah. The tale shows what is truly important.

WOW the illustrations in this book are gorgeous. Realistic, but also very artsy. Some of the perspectives the author chose to draw from were very interesting. My only wish is that the book hit home a little more clearly with the message, but who really cares with pictures this beautiful.

Thanks for the chance to review this book in exchange for honest feedback. I really enjoyed this young reader’s book. Particularly, I thought that the biggest strength of this book was in its illustrations. I absolutely loved how most of the pages flowed together. The illustrations are brilliant. The layout is awesome. It reminds me of something I would’ve been into as a kid, I loved Lion King and safari/lions. It is a really cool, entertaining book and I’d be interested to see it IRL.

A very beautifully illustrated book about three white birds residing in elephant s back in the beautiful Savannah. These three birds are fighting for a speckled feather and how in the greater picture they realise the importance of friendship and staying together!
The best part for my daughter was the fact that's these birds live on these elephant s and in term help each other in their own special ways.. she hadnt thought about it before so that's a big plus for me!
Thank you Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

The illustrations for this book are stunning, truly. The animals are very realistic, and you can feel the movement as if they are going to pop off the page. This is a great book for littles who love to look at pictures of wild animals or learn about wild animals.

The illustrations in this book were fantastic! I loved that this story focused on the birds that reside on the backs of elephants because I feel like these are animals no one usually pays attention to. I also love elephants so I enjoyed that the elephant was the hero throughout this story. This story had humor and also a good message- how many young children fight and bicker with one another over small, trivial things? This story illustrated how these small fights can cause big problems and to let the little things go! This was a beautiful story.

Storywise this book isn't particularly unique. Three friends bicker about an object, in this case the titular 'Speckled Feather', that all of them want yet only one can have and eventually realize how unimportant that feather actually is in the grand scheme of things. All that can be forgiven however, because the art is a very different story. It's GORGEOUS! And that's all that needs to be said. I'm definetly looking forward to more of this illustartors unique work. 4 Stars

This is a lovely book telling the story of friendship and doing the right thing. It is beautifully illustrated and both myself and my 4 year old son enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC.

The Speckled Feather is a children's picture book following 3 birds who live on the back of an elephant somewhere in Africa. The illustrations are beautifully drawn bringing the grasslands alive in vivid focus. Our three bird friends squabble over a pretty red feather that they all covet. Their arguing makes elephant send them away until they sort out their issues, but not before a hungry creature of the night decides they are all tasty snacks, with or without a pretty red feather. This would be a solid addition to any children's collection.

A book about 3 birds, Ade, Emem and Nuru who live on the back of an elephant and the adventures they get up to. A nice tale about friends.

Just beautiful!
A moving story, I could not put into words.
The illustrations are simply a work of art! Would love to see more of Ries' work!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This is a great positive message book about friendship and doing the right thing.