Dec
20
Book Review
By Anne Draper
A children's story by Kathleen Lynch is brought to life through colourful visual paintings of a determined young seagull searching for his daily food.
Cal becomes a common fixture on Victoria's Inner Harbour Causeway where he learns to beg, eat and run in a kind of human manner. The title suggests that Cal, illustrated perching on top of Captain Cook's statue located across from the Empress Hotel, is a well-fed seagull waiting for his next adventure. His special talents are flying, swooping and the ability to perch above all the people below who are walking, sitting and simply moving about.
The realism of the author's artistic illustrations tells a story that needs few words to describe Cal's behaviour on a commercially driven causeway. Simple acts of swooping down to help himself to free human food from tourists, artists, and crafts people become less tolerable to the locals as the story progresses.
When tourist season ends, Victorians agree that a seagull needs to learn how to fish for food in the sea. The seasonal change to cold, wet weather ends the summer of fun and free lunch treats for Cal. Kathleen, the author and artist, decides that a seagull is smart enough to follow the flock and find food and fish away from Victoria's waterfront.
There is a sense that Cal will survive after his summer's daring activities due to his ability to learn new ways of coping for his survival.
A moral lesson? Perhaps.