The Wild HooBoo: A Story About Freedom

About this book

The HooBoo bird is wild and free and its song goes ‘Coo! Chit Churp Chu-ree!’ 

They say that if your heart is good and true, its song will grant your heart’s desire. And when a greedy king hears this, he has to own it. 

He sends his soldiers quick marching to the woods, where they capture the HooBoo bird. But the song from the caged HooBoo bird doesn’t work for the king, who’d demanded that every living thing bow down to him. So he orders everything in the world to be captured too. 

But still no one bows to the king, despite them all singing and howling and squawking from their cages. What can he be doing wrong? 

This gorgeously illustrated picture book has a classic fairy tale quality about it. The rhyming text makes the story very accessible. The reader can easily see how selfish and power-hungry the king becomes, and how miserable it makes everyone and everything around him. This could initiate discussions about freedom, animal rights and human rights.  

The talented Northern Irish author-illustrator Barry Falls has created a richly coloured world and a thought-provoking story.