Chloe: The Unfeathered Parrot

Based on a true story, Chloe: The Unfeathered Parrot tells the tale of a bird that had been purchased by a man “who loved the idea of having a beautiful parrot in his home, but he was so busy and travelled a lot.” In the wild, red-masked parakeets are social birds that spend their days in pairs or interacting with others in flocks of up to a dozen birds. Alone and with nothing to do, Chloe began to pluck out her feathers until she was almost featherless. Fortunately, the man recognized that his home was not the correct place for Chloe, and he surrendered her to a parrot sanctuary where Chloe interacted with the human staff and other surrendered parrots of various varieties until she could be placed with/adopted by the “right flock”, the book’s culminating event.

The illustrator, Wei Lu, is much stronger in portraying the various types of parrots that are found in the book than she is in rendering human figures. The former have life whereas the latter largely come across as cardboard figures. One major error occurred in the book’s printing; what should have been bright red is, instead, brown. This error not only occurs with the coloring of the book’s title bird, a red-masked parakeet but it also happens with the macaw, the love birds and the Electus parrots which all make cameo appearances in the book.

End matter includes the URLs for websites offering “Educational Resources” and “Resources for Parrot Rescues and Sanctuaries in North America” as well as brief biographical information about the author and the illustrator.

While Chloe: The Unfeathered Parrot is a story about just one type of pet, the book’s central message should be heeded by all those who are considering purchasing/acquiring a pet, whether it be a goldfish, cat, dog, snake, turtle, or a parakeet like Chloe. Pets are all living creatures, and their needs, both physical and emotional, must be researched and a commitment made to meet those needs before an animal is brought into a home.

Readers can see the actual Chloe here.