Cover Image: Alfie's Adventures - Hyacinth Macaw

Alfie's Adventures - Hyacinth Macaw

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Member Reviews

A good read.

The book would be a wonderful way of exposing young little minds to the horrific reality of environmental destruction and the multitude of perils it has wrought on a variety of living beings.

It's to be appreciated that the book presents a problem, states solutions and has a clear call to action; if nothing else, it will certainly ease the so many 'but why?'s little ones are bound to have after reading this.

Overall, a very informative read.

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A really great story about the impact of environmental destruction on fauna, conveying its message clearly. Illustrations were slightly clunky, often with a white background which made them look slightly unfinished and there wasn't a huge amount of variation in colour/image between illustrations. Overall, an inspiring story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

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Alfie's Adventures by Hayley Jane Smith is one outstanding read. It leaves a lot of discussion for what we can do to help save and preserve natural habitats for animals like the parrots and other special birds. The illustrations went well with this children's book. I found it educational and easy to read.

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Not a fan of the word naughty it insinuates that an inquisitive nature is wrong. Whilst I get the sentiment to protect the environment from humans the fact Alfie the African grey had to use a form of violence to stop the human destroying the forest isn’t ideal example of a solution.

The second part of the book did provide good examples on a sustainable way forward to ensure we can live in harmony with the planet. Yes, this focused solely on parrots and could have included examples of other species that live in the rainforest but in this instance it was appropriate to keep focus on the parrot.

Whilst some criticised the illustrations I thought they were more than adequate for this book.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I thought this book was a delightfully fun book for children and a great way to get them interested in birds and nature. I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. I bet children will be very fascinated by this book.


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This is such a great title to educate children on the importance of the environment and natural habitats. I liked the illustrations that went with the story.

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The premise of this book is great, as I strongly believe that it is necessary to make children (as well as adults) aware of the consequences of habitat loss for plants and animals, and what we can do to mitigate this.
Unfortunately, the execution left a lot to be desired. The art was very one-dimensional and bland. The "super parrot" saving the day thing was too shallow. The story was uninvolving and reductive. For example, parrots are not the only animals that live in the rainforest, and the benefits and importance of the rainforest to the planet were not emphasised enough. The part about what we can do was well done instead. Overall, not recommended.

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This was a cute read . I really liked all the colors in the pictures and as a physical book I know it would look amazing. My son is only 2 so this isnt something I would read to him but maybe sometime in the future I will!

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First, I want to thank Haley Jane Smith and Olympia Publishers for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

Haley Jane Smith wrote and created Alfie’s Adventures: Hyacinth Macaw around her own passion for all things birds. This is a very well written book with a very important life lesson for not only children but adults alike!

As I started reading this book I could not help but to laugh. It was so cute and funny. I can see your special little one laugh as I did. As the story goes on it goes a little deeper and more meaningful. Some children might not grasp the full concept but that is ok. It would make for great conversation and discussions.

Haley is a very talented artist not only with her written word but also the graphics. The combo of the two made for a great story. I loved how detailed the people in the book were drawn.

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Alfie's Adventures - Hyacinth Macaw by Hayley Jane Smith
Love theme of this book, to stop environmental destruction.
Animals featured and the locations show you where things need to be improved upon.
Like bright colorful maps that show exactly where the animal in question lives.
Words on the page are shown to me in boxes that sit on top of the graphics.
Azul takes the hat from a man, not knowing the danger then gust of wind comes and he follows it to a new location, one he was NOT familiar with at all.
Alfie the gray parrot is nearby and helps to make the man not cut the trees down.
Love how the author teaches you things about the two parrots as they are talking to one another. Such informational material. They find nuts but there is not much there any more.
There are examples of things people can do to conserve and protect what land is here.
Ends with about the author and illustrator.
Such a worldly worthy read for everyone to enjoy.
Received this review copy from the author via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

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As an educator, we now try to avoid the word 'naughty', as it has a negative connotation that we can actually see has a negative impact of the social emotional wellbeing of some children.
Similarly, whilst the theme and message in this book is very important, the use of the fire and chainsaw images, can be shocking for this age group, and we have had some children have bad dreams as a result of these types of images before. Children have incredible vivid imaginations, and we can not underestimate the impact that these powerful images can have on these precious young minds.

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Well-meaning, but very flawed, this shows us a cheeky macaw who suddenly, when not busy stealing human hats, finds a lot of deforestation happening. Luckily, though, Alfie the African Grey parrot flaps along, saves the day – temporarily – and then gives a recital to the macaw all about what we humans might potentially be able to do to stop it happening. And yes, it is perhaps a better way of doing it – we should not feel so harangued about the truth if it's being told to a fellow parrot and not to us directly, but the target audience is not of an age or ability to do a heck of a lot in this situation. And as for the book itself, it's just too simplistic, in design, text, and in the balance between the naive-seeming plotting and the seriousness of its issue. Needed to be better – certainly it is lacking a lot of enjoyability.

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