The Boy and the Pelican

Leo, a curious boy in a yellow t-shirt and red cap, packs a notebook and pencil for a Saturday trip to the wetlands with his mom. There, Ranger Joe, a kind park ranger, introduces him to pelicans gliding over the water and scooping fish into their long throat pouches. Leo sketches every bird he sees and fills his notebook with new words, discovering that wetlands are a busy home for herons, ducks, frogs and fish, and that all these living things together make up biodiversity.

Watching the heron stand still in the shallows and the duck paddle past with her ducklings, Leo begins to see how each plant and animal has a job and how they depend on one another, like pieces of a puzzle. Inspired by a poster on the boardwalk, he decides to make one of his own about pelicans and the wetlands. The tale by Çınar BİBER follows a child who turns curiosity into learning and learning into action, and it can be read on Masalcı Baba. It is suited to children in the early school years, to parents and teachers seeking a gentle introduction to wetlands, birds and biodiversity, and to anyone who enjoys a quiet story about a boy, his notebook and a pelican.