Bird

by Angela Johnson

Book 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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803728476
• ISBN13: 9780803728479
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Dial Books
• Length: 133 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 7.2"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

Broken hearts that are hard for kids to navigate

Three different types of broken hearts interact in this very moving novel. Told from the individual perpectives of Ethan, a young boy who's just getting used to his new life after a heart transplant; Jay, a boy who's greiving after the death of his brother from a brain aneurism; and Bird, a runaway girl searching for the one person she thinks will make her family complete, the novel winds its way into our hearts with subtle touches and astonishing insight. I read BIRD when my 12 year old daughter was about to write a book review of it for school. She is a 'book-devourer' and I was surprised when she said she didn't like the book and didn't know how to write a review of a book she disliked. She complained about the three separate narrative voices, and said they kept her from feeling that the story was a whole picture. She didn't seem to be able to make significant connections across the three story strands. I read it to figure out what her problem was. As an adult reader, I was awed by the author's ability to delicately link the stories and, through deceptively simple prose, use Bird as an emotional catalyst, while also bringing Bird to her own epiphany. But I can see that the book's form and quiet style could be opaque for some readers in its intended age group. I found that a good discussion about the book changed the way my daughter viewed it, and led her to discover elements in it she'd missed the first time herself. This would be a terrific book club book for moms and kids to read together, or for serious class discussions; I do think that exchange with an adult who's read it will enhance the experience for the pre-teen reader.

Ladybird ladybird, fly away home

Each Angela Johnson book gets harder and harder to review. When Ms. Johnson produces yet another slim title about a kid dealing with an extraordinary yet everyday problem, I shiver. Not because Ms. Johnson is a bad writer, mind you. Just a funny one. You can't pin down an Angela Johnson book with a single sentence. You can't explain what it is that she's doing with her writing without reaching into the complicated issues that she's discussing. Her first few books were fairly easy to understand. Nowadays they're all published as perfect little entities that exist entirely in their own world with or without your participation in them. "Bird", one of the most recent, is more difficult to love than Ms. Johnson's crowd pleasers like "First Part Last". Telling three different stories from three different perspectives, Johnson spreads herself a little too thin in her tale of a girl looking for a father-figure, a boy learning to use his new heart, and another boy finding a way to come to terms with his brother's death. Chipper stuff. Bird loved her stepfather Cecil. He wasn't a particularly reliable man and he wasn't always a nice man, but he was the only daddy Bird had ever known. Now he's taken off in the middle of the night without a word and the girl can't take it. Pooling her resources, she heads down South to find Cecil and convince him to return home with her in the North. She camps out in an old abandoned shed near a cheery family's farmhouse and survives by eating their leftover breakfasts and bathing in their beautiful white bathtub. The family includes Ethan, a kid who until recently was confined to a hospital bed. He's just been given a new heart and in Bird he sees someone who can definitely be his first friend. Trouble is, his heart came from Jay's brother. Jay moved to town relatively recently, and he's been placed under house arrest for joyriding in a neighbor's truck without permission or a license. Between the two boys, Bird becomes a gentle visitor who helps them with their problems but also has her own daddy issues to contend with. "Bird" is a lovely book. Don't get me wrong. But if you've a kid who likes their plots neatly wrapped up by the story's close, don't hand them this one. I got to the end of this tale and found myself staring with utter incomprehension at Angela Johnson's biography (appearing just after the last page) rather than the conclusion I'd been anticipating. I just couldn't figure it out. Sure, we get a very clear sense of what happens to Bird by the end. But Ethan and Jay's tales are wrapped up with such a tender touch that you're left feeling just a little bit robbed. Johnson uses the minimum amount of words to convey her stories. There's not a sentence out of place or a word that could be used better in her books. Here, however, instead of feeling that she's filled you up with a work of perfect simplicity, you're hungering for more. You want more details and explanations. You wan

A tender story of how the lives of 3 children intertwine

Meet Bird, a thirteen-year old girl who ran away from her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. She's very, very upset. Just when she thought her family was solid, her stepfather Cecil abandons her and her mother. Bird is determined to get him back. That's why she's in Acorn, Alabama. She misses her mother, her bedroom, food, and being able to take a shower. Bird is hiding out behind a nice family's farmhouse, watching and waiting. Meet Ethan, a boy who lives in the farmhouse. He sees Bird in her hiding spot but doesn't tell his parents. Instead, he is excited to have a friend. He helps Bird by giving her meals, clothes and blankets. Ethan used to be very sick and had to get a new heart. Little do Ethan and Bird know that they have a lot in common. Meet Jay, a boy in town. He is still numb from the death of his younger brother Derek. Bird and Jay meet each other on a roadside. Their sadness instantly connects them. Bird has made another friend. Angela Johnson, three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, proves once again her amazing storytelling abilities. BIRD is told from the points of view of Bird, Ethan and Jay. Through their connections, and what happens to each of them, a story tenderly unfolds. Johnson has a beautiful way with words that wrap around the readers' emotions and make us care deeply for the characters. --- Reviewed by Kristi Olson (zooey24@yahoo.com)

Richie's Picks: BIRD

"People struggle, people fight For the simple pleasures in their lives The trouble comes from everywhere It's a little more than you can bear I know that it will hurt I know it will break your heart the way things are And the way they've been And the way they've always been" --Natalie Merchant BIRD is an exquisitely crafted tale, expressed in the trio of young voices through which Angela Johnson explores matters of the heart--both metaphorically and literally. "And I wonder what the farmhouse people would do if I just walked up to them and said, 'Hey.' " Thirteen-year-old Bird is the first of those narrators. Brokenhearted, she has run away from her home in Ohio in hopes of retrieving her departed stepfather, Cecil. "Ethan holds his chest when he talks and Jay talks like his heart is in his hands." Ethan and Jay provide the story's two other voices. After having taken a bus to Alabama, Bird has found shelter in the old shed outside of Ethan's home. "Even in this little town I don't think they know each other." Ethan had almost died. But the death of a boy in his town gave Ethan a new lease on life. That boy who died was Jay's brother, Derek. But why has Bird chosen to come here? "I miss my mom. "I even miss the people here that I can see every day if I want. 'Cause they aren't mine. All these people going in and out of their houses in this place I'm gonna leave anytime--they don't belong to me. "I'm borrowing them until I get what I came for. "Hope it's not wrong to borrow them. It doesn't mean I don't like them or care about them. I'm only passing through and borrowing." Bird's quiet alightment in the boys' town brings heart to all those with whom she comes in contact. "My arms are lighter when I walk back to the house." Beautifully written and ending all too soon, Angela Johnson's bittersweet story of love, life, and loss is one that is sure to touch readers.