Magpie Learns a Lesson

By Sally Morgan and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, and illustrated by Tania Erzinger, Omnibus Books, Scholastic, 2015.

‘Two friends, Magpie and Brown Falcon, have different talents. But magpie is cross that she can’t fly like Brown Falcon and plays tricks on her friend.’

What a naughty little magpie this one is! Magpie Learns a Lesson, a very big lesson indeed!

Two birds; two sides of a story. Magpie and Brown Falcon share the same forest, and one might call them friends; however, magpie has a different view.

If you’re familiar with the story of the boy who cried wolf, then you’ll understand this story. It has a hint of tall poppy syndrome too, because magpie tries to bring Brown Falcon down. Brown Falcon looks up to Magpie. He loves the warble of this songbird and enjoys listening to it through the forest.

Brown Falcon admires Magpie and rejoices in his songs, while Magpie if filled with envy of the great heights Brown Falcon can soar to, and the distances he can see from up there. Magpie is so jealous of his friend the Brown Falcon, that he tricks him repeatedly to make him feel bad. He puts out traps that look like food so that Brown Falcon will fall for them and dive to fetch the food, only to find Magpie takes the food away from him. Brown Falcon finally figures out what Magpie has been up to and flies away…until one day, Magpie truly does need Brown Falcon’s help. Is Brown Falcon there to help Magpie? Of course, he is!

This book could be used as a teaching tool to help children understand the impact of doing hurtful things to another.

Teacher’s Notes are available for this book for free from the publisher.