The story is about the ancestors of modern-day birds. Subtitled a "Bedtime Story Reader," the author initially wrote it for his then eight-year-old daughter, who asked one day if he would write her a story. Whenever the author finished a chapter he would read it to her before she went to bed. This experience of reading to his older child enriched both their lives, and from that point forward he encouraged friends with older children to continue reading them bedtime stories.