Regent honeyeater’s heads bob up and down as they sing their ancient song. They learn their song from their fathers. Soon it would be our young Regent’s turn to sing. But as he grew up, the urban environment expanded, with smog and noise of the cities. The land around had been cleared for farms and many birds flew away.
Regent knows that it is time to find a mate, but he can’t remember his song and there is no-one to help him remember. He listens to the noisy friarbird and tries to sing but all that comes out is a tiny squeak. He listens to the pied currawong but he just makes a gurgle. He tries and tries but he can’t sing his song.
Then one day he sees a park ranger hammering a small box to a scribbly gum. He listens to the rat-a-tap-tap. Suddenly, he hears a sweet song coming from the box. The song is familiar, and his heart feels warm inside.
At the back of this book, we learn about the regent honeyeater. How it is critically endangered and all that is being done to help this little bird. Researchers are working to teach captive birds to sing using audio recordings. They then release them into the wild in the hope they will teach other birds in the wild to sing their song.
The Forgotten Song is a wonderful book to inspire the young and old to support keeping habitats around cities for wildlife before they are lost forever.
Reviewed by Emily Ross
Age Guide 5+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Coral Vass is an award-winning Australian children’s author with over 20 books published.
Her book, Sorry Day won the 2018 Speech Pathology Awards Book of the Year for Language and Literacy Development Indigenous Children and the 2019 CBCA Book of the Year – Eve Pownall Award. Coral also won the Caleb Book of the Year Award in 2021 for Grandma’s Treasured Shoes and has also been shortlisted for the REAL AWARDS (CROC, KOALA and YABBA Awards) voted by the children of Australia.
Coral loves to visit schools, often running writing workshops and inspiring young people with a love for literature. She is an ambassador for Reading Out of Poverty and is passionate about giving all children an equal opportunity to read.
Born in Sydney Australia, Coral spent her early years in Bangladesh. She has also lived in Queensland, Japan and currently resides by the beach in Melbourne, Victoria with her husband and four children.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
I am an illustrator and more recently author based in Melbourne, working from a very messy studio out the back of our house. I have always drawn and over the last ten years been working full time as an illustrator, primarily in picture books. Sometimes I have other projects such as greeting card designs, working with awesome clients, or creating stuff for my own shop.
I love working with watercolours and digital illustration, and find inspiration in the laneways and city, as well as Merri Creek and trips out of town to the beautiful country surrounding Melbourne.
Visit Jess Racklyeft’s website
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