Free Event
The Little Bird that Fell
Book Reading by Sam Bloom
Date: Sunday August 30th
Time: 1pm
Location: Bookoccino

The Little Bird That Fell: The uplifting and inspirational true story of PENGUIN BLOOM and how one small bird brought a fractured family back together, now retold in gorgeous picture book format.

A tender and uplifting picture book for children that retells the story of Penguin Bloom from the perspective of the rescued magpie chick herself.

Dear Reader,

The global success of Penguin Bloom has been an enormous and heartwarming surprise to Cameron and me. Over the past ten years I’ve received countless messages and spoken with thousands of people who were deeply moved by our story.

Many readers who enjoyed the books, and watched the movie, were parents who asked if we would ever consider producing a picture book for young children. Our answer was always, ‘yes!’ This was something we both wanted to do, and so did Bradley Trevor Greive, who became the father of two – a girl and a boy – while writing Penguin Bloom.
Cameron and I have three amazing sons. Our boys were very young when I broke my back.

I genuinely struggled to communicate how I was feeling, and I know they were also hurting, even if they didn’t or couldn’t tell me.

Feeling broken, different, lost or forgotten is extremely common, especially after a painful injury or an illness. The support of loving friends and spending time in the beauty of nature were two of the most important things that helped me cope with physical pain and corrosive feelings of isolation after my accident, and these also helped us heal as a family.

While Penguin Bloom employed Penguin the magpie’s injuries as a poetic vessel for mydifficult journey, we thought it was time to share Penguin’s point of view. It just felt right to put Penguin in the spotlight, and knowing how much she would love this made us all smile.

We all wanted our picture book to be illustrated by an Australian artist who understood the cheeky nature of baby magpies. Gabriel Evans’ work is simply gorgeous!

The Little Bird That Fell celebrates the power of friendship, nature and healing, but it is also a true story about hope and courage.In my experience, courage doesn’t have to be big and loud.

It’s often a very small, quiet thing: a secret hopeful place deep inside where you find just
enough strength to keep going when you really need it.

As we say in the book,
‘We all fall, we all hurt, but this is not the end.’

Sam Bloom
Four-time world para surfing champion