Wings

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Overview

At first it looks like a small gray ball of fluff, its head a cloud of frizzy feathers, fine as dandelion seeds. The baby bird isn't even strong enough to spread its wings, but ten-year-old Nick is determined to save it. Together with his best friend, he coaxes the wild bird he names Marcy to eat worms and take rides on their fingers. Then he watches, amazed, as she finally opens her wings - and flies! As Marcy grows, so does Nick - forced to make some hard choices about friends and family. And for the first time...

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More About This Book

Overview

At first it looks like a small gray ball of fluff, its head a cloud of frizzy feathers, fine as dandelion seeds. The baby bird isn't even strong enough to spread its wings, but ten-year-old Nick is determined to save it. Together with his best friend, he coaxes the wild bird he names Marcy to eat worms and take rides on their fingers. Then he watches, amazed, as she finally opens her wings - and flies! As Marcy grows, so does Nick - forced to make some hard choices about friends and family. And for the first time he dares to ask questions about the death of his soldier father. But other questions loom in the air: Will Marcy try to fly away? And will Nick be able to let her go?

Beautifully rendered drawings capture the poignancy and joy of this unforgettable story about growing up, loving, and letting go.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"Alight with visual detail. Loss settles on the page with a longing that only time can heal, and that only a top-notch writer can create." —Kirkus Reviews

"A touching, well-wrought tale." —The Horn Book

"Realistic and tender." —School Library Journal

"Shaded-pencil drawings illustrate this graceful story with sensitivity and subtlety." —Booklist

"The story is solid, the writing is unobtrusively thoughtful, and the book is broadly accessible. Compelling." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Wings joins the ranks of My Side of the Mountain, Rascal, and other wonderful tales of boys and their wild animal pals. A testament to the fact that growing up may sometimes be tough, but in the end, spreading your wings is both inevitable and glorious." —Christian Science Monitor

"Poignant." —Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature - Valerie O. Patterson
In June 1960 Nick finds a baby mockingbird in the middle of the road and carries it home. "It wasn't particularly beautiful or cuddly, but holding it made me shiver inside. It seemed like so much to carry, and at the same time so little and so light." Nick and his widowed mother try to get the bird to eat but at first it refuses. While they sit in the shed with the bird in the wee hours of the night, Nick asks about how his father died in the Korean War. As the sun rises the next morning, the bird, which Nick names Marcy, squawks and then swallows a worm that Nick has dug for her. Over the summer Nick and Marcy become inseparable. When Nick has to leave Marcy for a week at the end of the summer while he and his mother go to the lake with his cousins, Nick knows Marcy may not be there when he returns. Poetic and tender, powerful yet not sentimental, this story about a boy, about loss, and about the natural world around him is universal and unforgettable. Pencil illustrations capture the timeless images of a boy and his family and realistically portray the mockingbird that forever changes the boy's life.
School Library Journal
Gr 4-6-The summer of 1960 is an eventful and special time for Nick. His mom meets Glen, the new handyman in town; Nick learns a bit more about his father, who died in the Korean War; and he finds a tiny mockingbird that, through nurturing, becomes a healthy, and seemingly happy, adult. As boy and bird bond, Marcy teaches Nick about true friendship-about loving someone enough to allow them their freedom. Plausibly written in a voice that seems appropriate for a 10-year-old boy, the story is both realistic and tender. Soft, realistic pencil vignettes and full-page drawings are nice touches that add to the story's nostalgia. Bowman shows a young bird sitting in her newspaper-lined box, and a young adult Marcy flying through Fourth of July sparklers, perching on Nick's knee as he sits quietly thinking in the large sewer pipe that is his secret place, and standing on his seed-filled hand. A note on the habits of mockingbirds is appended. Young people who enjoyed Sterling North's Rascal (Puffin, 1990) will love Nick's story as well.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Looking back to the summer of 1960 when he was ten, Nick relates the story of Marcy, a baby mockingbird he rescued and nurtured into saucy confidence. Her progress brought joy to those around him; his efforts and sacrifice bought him personal growth and a maturity and strength, which he reflects upon in his detailed memories of the gentle, straightforward world of his widowed mother. The serious issues in his life are placed in context of the importance of putting forth a good effort. His feelings about his Dad's death in the Korean War, and his Grandfather's mindless suffering in the skilled nursing facility, stir his sense of place in the world. Loizeaux reveals loss, loneliness and the value of kindness and differences through adept characterizations of the people in Nick's neighborhood. The gentle pace moves forward with daily routine and Marcy's progress to an inevitable conclusion. The flowing narration, alight with visual detail, is reflected in Bowman's soft pencil illustrations, aglow with clear sentiment. Loss settles on the page with a longing that only time and reflection can heal, and that only a top-notch writer can create. (Fiction. 9-12)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780374348021
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • Publication date: 9/5/2006
  • Edition description: First Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 144
  • Age range: 7 - 10 Years
  • Lexile: 890L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 5.70 (w) x 7.42 (h) x 0.72 (d)

Meet the Author

WILLIAM LOIZEAUX is the author of Anna: A Daughter's Life, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book. This is his first novel for children. He lives in Hyattsville, Maryland. LESLIE BOWMAN has illustrated many children's books. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Read an Excerpt

From Wings

One afternoon in late June, I was pushing the mower home from the Finleys'. I had passed the woods, passed the field where they were building the new tract houses, when I saw something in the middle of the road. From a distance, it was just a small gray ball of fluff. Then I could see its beak and short tail. For a while I watched it. No cars came by, and no other birds came to help it. I walked closer, thinking I'd scare it off the road where it would be safer. But it didn't move, didn't even flinch, so I squatted down right in front of it.

And that's when it reached toward me, stretching its neck like a rubber tube and opening its beak like a hinge. It made a sound that I'll never forget. It went TTCHAAAAAAACK!!! Just once. Like a rusty gate. Such a big sound for such a small thing.

I picked up the bird in both hands, cupping it carefully to my chest. I could feel it breathing fast. But if it was scared, it didn't try to go anywhere. It wriggled down into my palms. Its feet felt dry and scratchy. I could see pink flesh through its furry wings. Around its head was a cloud of frizzy feathers, fine as dandelion seeds. It had a sad, scrunched-up old man's face, with a wrinkled neck, thin yellow lips, and a beak that was arrow-shaped. Its black eye blinked. It wasn't particularly beautiful or cuddly, but holding it made me shiver inside. It seemed like so much to carry, and at the same time so little and so light.

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