Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Everyone is different. We all have different colored skin or at least different tones of skin color. Everyone’s hair and eye colors are different, too. Difference is not a bad thing. We’re not clones, after all. It’s the same thing in the wild. Every creature within a similar species is unique and different. For example, budgerigars (or budgies), come in all kinds of different colors. However, in this story, when a yellow budgerigar is born to blue budgerigar parents, this yellow budgerigar is ostracized and bullied, just for his color. Until, one day the yellow budgerigar, known as Dandelion, saves them all from the predator hawk as it descends upon their colorful flock. In his own escape, the yellow budgerigar gets lost and happens upon flocks of many different colored budgerigars and learns that he’s not so different after all.

Rob Bounds’ picture book story, Dandelion Blue, is a beautiful way to introduce the difficult concept of bullying and prejudice to young readers. The amazing charm of the yellow budgerigar, Dandelion, captures the reader’s heart as we learn about his unfair treatment by all the blue budgerigars in his flock. Not only does the reader feel compassion for Dandelion, but also quickly sees the unfairness of his situation and the cruelty of those who pointedly bully him about his differences. Written in rhyming verse and accompanied by spectacular illustrations, this is a great learning tool, not just about social issues and respecting others for their differences, but also a great resource on wild budgerigars.