The plot begins when imaginative young Harry Holdman receives a surprise inheritance: Madison, or "Mad" for short, his great-uncle George's pet parrot. Harry soon learns Mad can not only talk, he's intelligent, and the two quickly become close friends. Things take an unexpected turn when Mad is bird-napped though.
A Live-Action Adaptation ran from 1993 to 1996 on CITV.
This book contains examples of:
- Appetite Equals Health: Late in the book, Harry's mother gets worried about the health of one of their parrots, Fweddy, because he has suddenly lost his appetite. It turns out she is about to lay an egg.
- Babies Ever After: The book ends with the parrot "Fweddy" (previously thought male) laying an egg and saying "Call me Fwedwika", which Madison/Mad follows up with "Call me Dad".
- Bilingual Animal: Being an African Gray Parrot, Madison (or Mad) is fully capable of speaking English (though he has a pronounced American accent and has to remember that Americans and the English use different words for the same thing), but after returning home and meeting the family's other parrot Fweddy, reminds the Holdman family that he can also speak fluent parrot. He uses his talents to help Fweddy learn better English.
- Cats Are Mean: Madison/Mad certainly thinks so, and justifiably — his predecessor Jefferson was killed by his owner's cat, and another cat tries to sneak into the Holdman house to get Mad himself (fortunately, he scares it off).
- Disney Death: After Madison/Mad escapes his birdnapper, he's found outside by a couple of garbagemen who think, because of his bedraggled appearance (having escaped up a sooty chimney and been caught in the rain), that he's dead. He quickly proves himself to be alive though, and one of the men takes him home to recuperate.
- Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Fweddy, the Holdman family's second parrot, can't pronounce the letter "R" in their words and replaces them with "W"s, which inspires their name.
- Intellectual Animal: Madison/Mad is fully capable of understanding and fluently speaking English. He chalks it up to having been 'raised' by a professor of linguistics.
- Mistaken for Prank Call: Madison/Mad calls the police from the house being used by his birdnapper, the criminal Silver Ware, but when he describes himself as about to escape through the chimney and being only nine inches tall, they think it's a prank. Late in the book though, it's revealed they actually did follow up on the tips he gave them, and as a result both Silver Ware and his contact (who handles stolen birds) have been arrested.
- No More for Me: After escaping his birdnapper and recovering under the care of another human, Madison the talking parrot tries to use a payphone to contact the human family looking after him. The only person who happens to see this is, of course, drunk, and promptly decides it's time he stopped.
- Polly Wants a Microphone: Madison the African Grey Parrot, aided by having been 'raised' by a professor of linguistics before he was sent to England after his former master's death to live with the man's great-nephew; Madison even manages to teach another parrot, Fweddy, to have the same language abilities as himself.
- Secret-Keeper: George Holdman was one for Madison/Mad's abilities of fluent human speech. After the bird comes to live with Harry, he keeps silent for a bit until Harry tries to teach him how to speak, whereupon Mad reveals he's already a skilled talker. He later reveals his talent to Harry's parents as well, and becomes friends with all of them.
- Supreme Chef: In Madison/Mad's opinion, Harry's mother is this — his former owner baked as a hobby, but Mrs. Holdman is far better.
- Theme Naming: Madison the parrot was so called because he was his original (American) owner's fourth parrot, who named all of his birds after the Presidents of the United States. "Washington died in his sleep, Adams caught pneumonia and Jefferson tangled with the cat."
- Unexpected Inheritance: The book opens with Harry Holdsworth receiving Madison the parrot from his recently-deceased great-uncle George, despite the fact that George lives in America and he and Harry have never met. George's will explains that he chose Harry to be the one to receive Madison as the bird is already forty years old and may live for another forty, and apparently isn't used to females, so Harry was the only male relative of a suitable age.
- Voicemail Confusion: Inverted — at one point, Mr. Holdman calls home to let them know he'll be running late because of a meeting, and thinks he's gotten the answering machine... until it turns out to be Madison/Mad, who's fully capable of answering the phone and promises to relay the message for him.
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: After Mad is bird-napped, Harry's family adopts another African grey parrot to replace him, which they name "Fweddy" due to its lisp. After Mad returns home successfully and gets to know the new parrot, "Fweddy" surprises them by laying an egg, and shyly admits "Call me Fwedwika".
