The Boy and the Kingfisher

In this gentle illustrated story by Çınar BİBER, a curious boy with freckles and mustard-yellow rain boots visits the river near his home each morning. With a green canvas satchel, a spiral nature journal and a pencil behind his ear, he sits on a smooth rock and draws the birds he sees: a grey heron, a family of ducks, swallows over the water. Then a flash of brilliant blue changes everything, as a kingfisher with turquoise wings and a glowing orange chest perches on a low branch. The boy learns to wait as patiently as the bird until it dives like a tiny arrow and rises with a silver fish.

One morning the water turns cloudy and brown, a strange smell fills the air, and the kingfisher is gone. Walking the bank, the boy finds rubbish in the reeds and muddy streaks flowing into the river, and he understands the bird needs clear water to see its prey. With his family and neighbors he sets to work picking up bottles and cans, and the river slowly begins to clear. The tale can be read on Masalcı Baba.