Birdie's Bargain

by Katherine Paterson

Overview

In a poignant and unflinching new realistic novel from the Newbery Medal–winning author of Bridge to Terabithia, a ten-year-old girl makes a deal with God for her father's safe return from the Iraq War.


Birdie has questions for God. For starters, why couldn’t God roll history back to September 10, 2001, and fix things—so the next day was an ordinary sunny day and not the devastating lead-in to two wars? Daddy has already been to Iraq twice. Now he’s going again, and Birdie is sure he’ll die. At the very least, she won’t see him again for a year, and everything will not be OK. (Why do grown-ups lie?) To save money, she, Mom, and baby Billy have moved to Gran’s, where shy Birdie must attend a new school, and no one but bossy Alicia Marie Suggs welcomes her. Doesn’t God remember how hard it was for Birdie to make friends at Bible Camp? Counselor Ron taught about Judgment there—and the right way to believe. Has Birdie been praying wrong? Why else would God break their bargain? Readers of all faiths and backgrounds, especially children of military families, will identify with and root for the unforgettable Birdie, given inimitable voice by a master storyteller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536215595
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	641,632
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Katherine Paterson, a two-time winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award, has written more than thirty books, including Bridge to Terabithia and My Brigadista Year. A recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, she lives in Montpelier, Vermont.

Editorial Reviews

09/06/2021

Ten-year-old Birdie, terrified for the safety of her Vermont National Guard father when he is called to Iraq for his third deployment, strikes a bargain with God: she’ll “be a witness in the world if...you will just keep my Daddy safe.” Challenges abound for Birdie, beyond fearing for her dad’s safety: financial difficulties have forced her mother and baby brother to move in with her grandmother, and she is claimed for friendship by unpleasant classmate Alicia Marie Suggs, who frequently exaggerates. Struggling to follow the tenets of her beliefs, timid Birdie allows Alicia to monopolize her time and passively accepts Alicia’s abuse, until a family emergency causes a crisis of faith. Other than disagreeable Alicia, who vanishes midway through the book, poorly fleshed-out characters (all presumed white) populate what is more a snapshot of a family—and tween’s—turmoil than a fully constructed plotline. Though frequently unfocused, Newbery Medalist Paterson’s novel respects Birdie’s friendship struggles and offers lyrical turns of phrase: upon Birdie’s seeing a gleaming tree encased in ice, “The thought came to her that the tree was singing, singing a hymn to the sun.” Ages 9–12. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

As her protagonist copes first with the move and then with her crisis of faith, Paterson rounds the story with specific physical details (as well as skillfully deploying an omniscient narrator) and depicts the character’s emotional arc with authenticity and empathy.
—The Horn Book

Paterson’s writing is smooth and nuanced. . . Lovely prose and an intriguing family situation.
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-08-16
Can a person really make a deal with God?

When her father’s National Guard unit gets deployed overseas for the third time, and 10-year-old Birdie, her mom, and her 6-month-old brother, Billy, have to move into her grandmother’s small house, Birdie is so upset she refuses to tell her father goodbye. Overcome with guilt after he leaves, she thinks back to the lessons she learned at the Bible camp her parents used as child care the summer before and promises God that she’ll behave and be a witness if he keeps her father safe. Then God seems to lead her to Alicia Marie, a troubled and troublesome girl in her new class who demands more than Birdie wants to give. Birdie does her best to live up to her promise to God—but Daddy is injured anyhow. Paterson’s writing is smooth and nuanced, but this novel lacks a defined narrative arc. Birdie learns to see the truth behind Alicia’s lies and exaggerations, but then Alicia, the most fully realized character, drops out of the story entirely. Birdie is reassured when she visits her father at Walter Reed hospital after he is flown back to the U.S. for treatment. She is also comforted some months later when her grandmother suggests a kinder version of God, but she doesn’t exhibit much growth on her own. Characters default to White.

Lovely prose and an intriguing family situation but insufficient character development. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews