Descriptions, Reviews, etc.
Description:
After losing her mother to cancer and moving in with unfamiliar relatives for the summer, cautious Birdy struggles to adjust while her younger brother, Mouse, quickly grows attached to their new home, until Birdy's fears lead her to make a mistake that could threaten their future.
Review Quotes: Praise for Birdy
* "First-time novelist Moss' nuanced portrayal of mourning, paired with richly drawn characters, creates a deeply affecting read....This resonant story celebrates the healing power of connection and the hope found in chosen family."--Booklist, starred review
* "Moss's debut for young readers stands out from the crowded shelf of novels about orphaned children by remaining refreshingly soothing and calm....
(She) has delivered a story about a tough situation that allows readers to fall in love with the story and characters ... A required purchase for elementary school and middle grade libraries."
--School Library Journal, starred review "Moss does an excellent job of bringing the readers into the protagonist's thoughts ... an emotionally complex portrait of a tween at a turning point in her life, offering readers
a cathartic and engrossing narrative experience."
--The Horn Book "A grieving tween plans for the worst in this
emotionally raw upper middle grade debut...Sensitive language addresses the myriad challenges the protagonist faces, making her efforts to traverse processes of bereavement and change both
understandable and heartbreaking."
--Publishers Weekly "Moss presents a gorgeously imperfect narrator who, after years of being a caretaker, must learn to be a kid and a member of a family with loving adults.
The messiness of grief is handled with delicacy and compassion, especially in Birdy's feelings of relief when she no longer has to deal with her mother's illness, despite loving and missing her terribly."--
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
