Albert

By Donna Jo Napoli http://www.donnajonapoli.com/
Illustrated by Jim LaMarche (N/A website)
Published Silver Whistle Harcourt Inc, New York 2001
Colored Pencils on watercolor paper
Annotation
The weather is never quite right for Albert to leave the house. One day a bird makes a nest on his hand, and his entire life changes.
Personal Reaction
For me this entire book is one enormous metaphor for life, I guess. I have to be honest here, I'm not a deep thinking see meaning in everything I read kind of person. But I just love how Albert is this vulnerable man, sensitive to the happy and upsetting noises in the world, looking at the weather to validate his fear of the outside negative "bad sounds". Albert is essentially a shut in, until one day as he was checking the weather through the bars on the window, as he did everyday before he decided not to go out, a bird makes a nest on his hand. Albert sits there, holding the nest watching the process of life, stuck with his arm outside of the metal bars. He watches the process of life, eggs, hatching, feeding, the young birds try and fail to fly, he felt apart of the process, and through this intimate experience, he was able to also fly, and try. Oh it is so lovely, haven't we all felt like Albert before.

Metaphor: The entire book is a metaphor for life, step out the door and you will fly, be open to experiences and you will be happy and ok.