Bird

by Angela Johnson

Overview

Devastated by the loss of a second father, thirteen-year-old Bird follows her stepfather from Cleveland to Alabama in hopes of convincing him to come home, and along the way helps two boys cope with their difficulties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142405444
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/19/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	4.99(w) x 7.11(h) x 0.38(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Angela Johnson is the author of numerous books for children and young adults. She has won three Coretta Scott King Awards for her novels Heaven, Toning the Sweep, and The First Part Last, the Michael L. Printz Award for The First Part Last, and a Coretta Scott King Honor for her picture book When I Am Old with You. In recognition of her outstanding talent, Angela was named a 2003 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Kent, Ohio.

Editorial Reviews

Bird confronts friendship, family, and human limitations in this poignant tale. Thirteen-year-old Bird has run away from her Ohio home to search for her vanished stepfather. Hiding in a shed in Acorn, Alabama, Bird dances by moonlight and tries not to be too lonely. She can't help but get involved with the people she meets: Ethan, a boy whose life was saved by a heart transplant; Jay, whose brother died suddenly; and old Mrs. Pritchard, who used to bake peach cobbler before she lost her husband. Bird covetously observes the happy families of Acorn, but doesn't see that everyone has grief and tragedies to bear. Told through the alternating voices of Bird, Jay, and Ethan, this moving journey follows four lonely people as they touch each other's lives. A lovely and sad glimpse of individuals caring for one another in an imperfect world. (Fiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews

The lives of three emotionally damaged children intersect in serendipitous ways in this quietly lyrical novel. Readers Hosein (Bird), Palmer (Ethan), and Pavich (Jay) are well cast, sensitively conveying each character. Thirteen-year-old Bird has gone in pursuit of the stepfather who left suddenly; Ethan, the stepfather’s lonely nephew, is coming to terms with a new life in the wake of his heart transplant; and Jay is grieving the loss of his brother, who is, it turns out, the donor of Ethan’s heart. The plot may sound contrived, but the characters are complex and their emotions, genuine and compelling. Further, the performances of the talented young actors pull it all together into a moving story. E.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

JUNE/JULY 05 - AudioFile