Boo-Boo Birdie: Uh-Oh, Dodo! by Jennifer Satler

DODO LOVES TO WALK WITH HIS MAMA.

TODAY THEY ARE GOING SOMEPLACE SPECIAL.

Little Dodo has enthusiasm going for him.  Now if he can just get his long, double-jointed legs going, too.

Dodo thinks even his toes are talented, but absorbed in the study of his twinkling toes, he walks right into his mother's tail feathers and tips back onto his own bottom.

UH-OH, DODO!

The trek does not take a turn for the better, as Dodo's slightly-off-key singing draws, not cheers, but a shushing from the nesting mother birds in the trees. Spotting some smooth oval rocks near the trail, he tries to grab them for his rock collection, but the "rocks" (napping turtles) fail to co-operate with the collection plan. Uh-oh!

Dodo blunders into another unfortunate encounter, as a potential new friend turns out to be a potent skunk! BIG Boo-Boo! Dodo runs for comfort toward the nearest set of avian legs. But they're not Mama's legs. They belong to a less-than-thrilled ostrich! Luckily, Mama is nearby and all's soon righted again, as Mama takes a firm lead to get this hike back on track. There's the promised something special ahead, and Mama is determined that Dodo is going to get there to see it before sunset!

Jennifer Sattler's Uh-Oh, Dodo! (Boyd's Mill, 2013) has a lovable bumbling baby dodo, a well-motivated mama, and a surprise comic character, a tag-along green grasshopper, who threatens to steal the show on every page, finally hitching a ride on Dodo's head and holding his eyes shut to protect him from further distractions along the trail. At last the three reach the top of the hill to see a breathtaking view of the ocean beyond. Sattler's text is minimalist, but her illustrations are bright, filling the pages with what has to be the most adorable dodo in childrens' literature, and her recurring refrain, UH-OH, DODO! will have kids responding merrily all the way. And like all such tales should, it ends in a sort of bedtime for baby, as the tuckered out tot hitches a ride on Mama's soft feathery back for the return trip, grasshopper and all.  "A charming, cozy read-aloud with lots of visual interest," says Kirkus Reviews.

Jennifer Sattler's books include Sylvie, Chick 'n' Pug, Chick 'n' Pug Meet the Dude, and Pig Kahuna.