By Deborah Freedman
A little someone who is too shy to come out from between the pages badly wants to meet a passing bird, and has to find the courage to peek out and say hello.
Shy is a small, sweet someone who lives tucked in the crease between the pages, hidden in the words, too bashful to be seen. Shy loves birds and longs to meet the yellow one who lands nearby, but can't manage to come out. What if the bird is disappointed? What if there's nothing to say? So Shy waits, and worries, and misses the moment, until the bird begins to fly away and Shy finally has to decide whether wanting something is bigger than being afraid.
Your child knows exactly what it is to want to join in and not be able to make their body do it, and this is their book. Shy isn't a problem to be fixed; Shy is treated with real tenderness, and the whole story sits inside that quiet, held-breath feeling before you speak. Because Shy is barely drawn at first and only comes into the world slowly, a shy child sees their own careful, one-toe-at-a-time way of stepping out honored rather than rushed. And the ending is small and true: Shy doesn't become loud, Shy just manages one hello, and that is plenty.