The Brave Little Parrot

The Jataka tales — the cycle of stories about the Buddha’s previous lives as animals — are one of the great unsung children’s literatures of the world. They are simple, kind, and structurally repeatable: in each one, the Buddha- to-be does the thing the moment calls for, without calculation, and the world responds. The trouble is that English-language collections of them are either out of print, scholarly, or pious in a way children find off-putting.

Rafe Martin, who has spent his career as a folktale reteller and a practising Zen Buddhist, has done the best single-tale picture-book version of any Jataka — this one. The forest is on fire. The parrot flies to the river, wets his wings, returns, and shakes a few drops onto the flames. He does it again. And again. The gods of the forest are watching, and they are first amused, then troubled, then moved. The story turns when one of them — there are several traditional versions — comes down to help, and the rain begins.

Martin’s text is rhythmic, almost chant-like, which is right for the source material. Susan Gaber’s paintings are warm and slightly stylized — the parrot is small and brave, the forest is large and green, the fire is real but not overwhelming. The pacing of the book — slow, then faster, then a beat of stillness, then the rain — is unusual for the age band and is what makes the ending feel earned.

A first Jataka book for a 5-year-old. A first Buddhist book about effort and selflessness without the moralizing framing. Pairs naturally with the longer biographies of the Buddha — Under the Bodhi Tree, Demi’s Buddha — once a child wants to know what kind of teacher this person who once was a parrot grew up to be.

Stays in print under various imprints; the Putnam hardcover and the Puffin paperback are the two common editions.