By MARTA HEPLER-DRAHOS MARTA HEPLER-DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer

NORTHPORT - First he went AWOL. Then he went to jail. Finally he went to school.
The adventures of Mabu, the lovable lovebird, have entertained scores of students at Northport Public School since September 2003. That's when the peach-faced parrot took up residence in Patricia Hogberg's special education class.
Now 25 elementary and middle school students have decided to share his tale with others in a book they wrote and illustrated.
"Mabu Goes to School" is expected to be published by an online company next week, said Hogberg, who also teaches drama. The 20-page book will be available in both hard- and soft-cover versions.
Mabu's story began in July 2003 when he escaped from the East Grand Rapids home he shared with Hogberg's sister.
"She was working in her yard and had the bird on her shoulder and he flew up in the tree," Hogberg said. "He was up there a couple days. She had ladders out but she couldn't catch him. She thought he'd come down on his own. And then one day he wasn't there."
Later that week the bird flew into the hair of a woman walking through the East Grand Rapids shopping district. Noting his obvious pedigree, the woman delivered him to the city's police station and passed him through the security window.
Police contacted the local animal shelter but weren't able to identify the banded bird's owner. But a newspaper story headlined, "Escapee in police custody not a jailbird but a lovebird," caught the attention of Hogberg's father.
Three months after he was reunited with her sister, Hogberg said Mabu came to visit her classroom. Now he's the school celebrity.
"The kids just fell in love with him. He's been with us ever since," she said. "I have had kids that have a hard time expressing themselves or they're very quiet or shy. And they just open up around Mabu. Everyone wants to hold him, everyone wants to touch him. And they've taken on the responsibility of cleaning his cage and feeding him."
Sabrina Laughman, 9, said the bird perches on her finger or shoulder - and sometimes on her head - almost every day. The fourth-grader's illustration of Mabu looking toward the school is featured on the book's cover.
"It's kind of colorful and it's cool," Laughman said.
The book project was a joint effort of regular and special education students supervised by Hogberg and fellow teachers Sue Reinsch and Gaynor Walsh, Hogberg said. The students got professional advice from John Mitchell, director of the Leelanau Historical Society, and Leelanau County artist and educator Tom Woodruff.
Help formatting the book came from Joan Richmond, information specialist for Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District.
Hogberg said she has already taken 50 orders for the book, which will sell for $14.99 and $16.99 at the school, online and at local bookstores. She hopes to use the money it raises to place computers in special education classrooms.
To order "Mabu Goes to School," visit www.booksurge.com or call 386-5153, ext. 130.