The book
Adventures of Kiko and the Flock
A flock of Canada geese, one long migration, and everything the young ones learn between the hatching and the landing.
The story
One day early in the spring, Kiko is flying at the head of the V, searching the ground below for a special body of water ringed with rich green grass. He finds it: Goose Park, with its freshwater lagoon, mulberry bushes and tender flower shoots. Before he can call the mother geese down to claim it, Tunka and his buddies race past him and take the best of it for themselves.
That one selfish dive splits the flock. Tunka leads his friends across the lagoon to a shore of mud, weeds and beetles, and it takes a short-legged goose named Peewee, a great deal of tact, and one very hard sentence to bring them home.
Then the real journey begins. Goslings hatch and are counted. Fledglings learn to fly. Autumn comes, the flock lifts south, and the sky turns dangerous. A young goose falls over a busy downtown. A storm scatters everyone a hundred miles off course. The flock lands, of all places, inside a zoo — where the birds behind the aviary net are fed, safe, and never going anywhere again.
By the time Kiko finds the Florida coast, the fledglings have grown up on the migration trail. So has Tunka. So, as Kiko admits at the very end, has everyone.
Adventures of Kiko and the Flock
By Debra Adams
Nine chapters · Middle grade
The flock
Every goose in this story is somebody's neighbour, and most of them are wrong at least once.
For teachers and parents
Questions worth arguing about
The book hands children real disagreements and does not resolve them too quickly. These are good places to stop and talk.
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Kiko and Tunka are both strong geese who want to lead. What is the actual difference between them?
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The buddies consider lying to Tunka, and then shouting at him. Why do they decide against both?
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Peewee is teased for his size. Why is he the one they send?
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Tunka says I was wrong. What did it cost him, and what did it get him back?
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The birds in the aviary are safe, fed and protected. Are they free?
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Grandmother Tori says what the fledglings learned on this journey is "far more precious than fields of mulberries or tasty seeds." Do you agree with her about what those lessons were worth?
Adventures of Kiko and the Flock
An action-packed story about a flock of Canada geese who grow up on the migration trail — written by a retired teacher who never stopped telling children stories.