The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds
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Vanilla and Chocolate, lemon and lime. |
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The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds is a 1971 children's book by Arnold Lobel (who is most well known for the Frog and Toad series). It documents a number of strange fictitious birds that resemble mundane objects. These include the Dollarbill Dodo, a bird made out of a dollar; the Safecrossing Crow, a stop light, and of course, the eponymous Ice-Cream Cone Coot. It's beautifully illustrated and whimsical, but sadly out of print.
Tropes used in The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds include:
- Animate Inanimate Object: The premise of the book.
- Anthropomorphic Food: The Ice-Cream Cone Coot.
- Feathered Fiend: The Jackknife Niffy that cuts off children's noses.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The birds in the book are all part avian, part inanimate object.
- Somewhere an Ornithologist Is Crying: There is no possible excuse for something part bird, part teacup.
- Talking Animal: The Soupladle Lark, though it can only say the names of soups.