REVIEW: Birb Goes Twerp

Details

Author: Francis S. Poesy
Illustrator: Francis S. Poesy
Publisher: Mulberry & Bliss Books
Year of Publication: 2023

Review

Birb Goes Twerp is a mini board book aimed at the littlest of littles. Each spread features a recognizable animal with a less recognizeable name as the spelling is altered (e.g. Birb instead of Bird, Kiteh instead of Kitty, etc.). The sounds these animals make accompany a colourful, warped illustration, and each sound is just a little off from what is expected. You won’t find any cows saying moo in this book.

Birb Goes Twerp is a lot of fun. Kids will have a blast being able to say words wrong on purpose (and hearing their caregiver do the same), and those who don’t know how to pronounce words quite right just yet will find relief in this no-pressure read. A lot of attention to detail was put into this book, from the subtitle “A Book of Aminal Sounz” to the book reviews at the end, one of which proclaims to be an AI Art Generator saying, “I couldn’t have written it better myself.” Hilarious details to be found for both the young and older reader.

From an educational standpoint, the mixed-up words and sounds don’t seem to follow a phonetical pattern or even choose the most common ways that kids tend to mispronounce the words, but it does still present the opportunity to talk about what the correct way of saying things would be. This book is mostly fun for the sake of fun, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if that’s what you are looking for.

Great for bookshelves that need young, fun reads.

Reviewed digital PDF.