"This heart-warming and delightful story will intrigue and interest
children while it charms their parents. It is a pleasure to see a
children's picture book that is exciting and amazing yet accessible and
accurate. Always Blue for Chicu captures the life and spirit of this
fascinating parrot and the saga of his finding a home with people who
understand his needs."--Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns
Me
Always Blue for Chicu recounts thirty years of an Amazon
parrot's adventures. Captured as a young bird by smugglers, Chicu
frees himself from a market-place cage, is befriended by a kindly
sailor, Big Blue, and goes to sea, where he finds a new flock in the
sailors on board. When Big Blue goes back to sea, friends agree to care
for Chicu. Over many long years, Chicu is handed off from one owner to
another until he is brought to a parrot sanctuary where, after a long
search, Big Blue finds him again in a heart-warming finale.
Karen Dugan includes elements of humor to lighten Chicu's story, a tale
that might be similar to that of thousands of other exotic birds that
are trapped, smuggled, and sold into lives of captivity. Parrots are
long-living birds who flourish in flocks with mates and families, flying
freely and happily through the treetops; in their captive
existence--which may be fifty or sixty years, or longer--they often
endure isolation and a tedious, neglected life without proper care or
human attention. Through more than seventy striking, full-color
illustrations, Chicu's story opens a window into the life of these
exotic birds whose very beauty leads to their imprisonment, birds whose
unique qualities call out for understanding and care.
