The Baby Beebee Bird

by Diane Redfield Massie
Original illustrated by Diane Redfield Massie, Harper & Row Publishers, 1963
Re-illustrated by Steven Kellogg, HarperCollins, 2000.

I remember this story from my childhood, but I don't really remember the book itself. I think that I must have heard it read on Captain Kangaroo.  Indeed, I found that it was featured in Season 9 - Episode 196, which was aired April 16, 1964.  I only found the citation, not the episode, unfortunately.

The story and charming words Massie used to tell the story make for such a great read-aloud that the illustrations almost don't matter.  People tend to remember the bird's call of  beebeebobbi beebeebobbiing more than the bird's appearance.

That might be a good thing for Diane Redfield Massie. The new edition transfers "ownership," in a way, to the new illustrator, Steven Kellogg.  It's not that Kellogg has stolen anything from Massie. His artwork is so iconic that from now on, when people think of The Baby Beebee Bird, they will think, "Oh, that's a Steven Kellogg book."  The words, however, will always be Massie's.

But I could be wrong.  Some of the comments on Amazon express a sadness for the loss of Massie's simple drawings:

"...the book has lost it's charm due to the, dare I say, bad ilustrations! The bird is not cute at all but rather frightening, as are the other animals and the text is not laid out well on the pages, making it difficult to read through." Amazon.com

Another Amazon reviewer says,  "Also, I should say that ordinarily I love Stephen Kellogg, but well...YUCK! These pictures are garish and scary and sadly, they completely detract from the gentle and charming good humor of the original...I will look for a copy of the tiny, lovely one we had as kids."Amazon.com

And another says, "I was very disappointed in the illustrations...Instead of a cute little round green bird, similar to ones we have here in Hawaii, the bird in this version is not cute at all, but kind of creepy."Amazon.com

I agree that that original drawings are very charming. But I like the design of the newer version. The bird's "song" is printed along the top of each page, to emphasize how incessant  it is.

With all of the pairs of books I've looked at throughout this project, I've tended to like the older version better. In this case, however, I have so enjoyed sharing Steven Kellogg's version with groups of children who leave storytime chanting:

Beebee bobbi bobbi, Beebee bobbi bobbi,
Beebee bobbi, Beebee bobbi bobbi,
Beebee bobbi bobbi, Beebee bobbi
BeBeebee bobbi bobbi, Beebee Bobbi bobbi,
Beebee bobbi, Beebee bobbi bobbi,
Beebee bobbi bobbi, Beebee bobbi, Beebee
bobbi bobbi, Beebee bobbi bobbie, Beebee
bobbi, Beebee bobbi bobbi, Beebee bobbi....