Louis & the Dodo

Louis & the Dodo by Mark Shulman
Illustrated by Vincent Nguyen
2005

     Louis was not like other kids.  He had no interest in playing baseball or making people friends and his parents worried about him.  But Louis did have friends, many of them in fact, they just happen to be birds.  He would help them and protect them and the birds were there for Louis too.  One day, the birds needed Louis's help.  There was a Dodo kept in a circus by a group of mean clowns.  Louis didn't hesitate and went to rescue the Dodo.
     Louis & the Dodo is a beautiful tale of friendship and adventure.  The illustrations are wonderful.  I especially love Louis's bird costume, which, as my 4 year old son said, makes him look like the true hero he becomes in the story.  At the end of the story we learn that there is a secret door inside Louis's closet that will always allow him to go back to the magical land where the Dodo lives.  I know the concept of the secret passage has been used many times before, but there's a reason for it.  We still hope we'll find that secret door, that magic wardrobe, that hidden attic that will takes us back to the land of our dreams.