I see...

The left page is a pencil drawing of an abstract bird-like contraption that sits onto a small character. The beak is colored in charcoal, thin, three inches long, pointed. The bird is on top of a character. I see half its body: a rectangle open shape for the torso, two charcoal-colored ovals for thighs and stick legs stroked up and down with the pencil. The feet walk across a scribbled shadow made by the bird shape over the boy’s head. The bird has a large oval eye, bright white with the pupil colored dark. The pupil touches both the top and bottom of the eye and is wide open. A small contour of a bird sits on the top of the bird contraption. The bird has one wing, oval, with a line pattern, the wing angled back behind the bird contraption. I see a faint outline of the character’s head through the bird contraption, and perhaps a half-open oval that might be a smile. Many lines are drawn in a pattern on the bird contraption. ¶ On the right page, a few inches from the top, are these words, “I don’t want to take off my costume—I am a bird.” Two inches from the bottom of the page, running from one side to the other, are bird-feet like line prints. The prints cross the page to the left side—3 bird prints cross to touch the shadow. - anonymous

I see child-like, charcoal-colored chalk drawings on every page with words. - anonymous

I see a young boy and girl about 8 years old. - anonymous

I see the boy dressed in a bird costume. - anonymous

I see a boy struggling to hold the bird costume over his head. - anonymous

I see that the part of the boy that is a bird is his head. - anonymous

On one page, I see drawings of different bird species, an anatomical diagram of a bird, and a wing separate from the anatomical diagram. The wing is placed amongst the realistic drawings of birds. - anonymous

On a page, I see the words “there are barretts and birds on her pants and dresses” yet I don’t see birds on her dresses. I do not see her on any page wearing pants. - Susan

I see the boy looking at Sylvia in the way that Sylvia looks at the bird with her binoculars. - anonymous

I see a black and blue drawing of feathers, chest feathers or the center or thorax part of the bird. Chest of bird, no head and feathers coming down and solid black. - anonymous

I see a shape of a tie. I see that the costume takes up one side of the page. I see a warmth of heaviness. - anonymous

I see a soccer ball bouncing across the page and into drawings. - anonymous

At the end of the book, the boy stands on top of a smallish rock. Reading the words on the page, I see an intention inferred that someone will be balancing with the boy at the top of the rock, someone will be with me. - anonymous

I see the bird-boy fledging, flying off the page. - anonymous

Image credit: Susan Michael Barrett, reading The Day I Became A Bird by Ingrid Chabbert. Raúl Nieto Guridi (Illustrator).