Rating: **** 4 stars

Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Shadra Strickland,
Bird
Lee & Low, 2009.

Bird, an African American boy, loves to draw. It is an escape from the sometimes ugly city life around him. He particularly enjoys drawing birds, and loves to watch them from the roof of his apartment building. His grandfather has been a pilot, and Bird enjoys hearing about his wartime flying. But things are not well in Bird’s outwardly happy family home. His big brother, Marcus, has started taking drugs, and his decline happens all too quickly. Bird doesn’t really understand why he is not to allow Marcus into the house after a burglary, but he and his brother manage one last meeting before Marcus’s early death. Bird remembers him in his artwork, and when Granddad dies soon after, it is Granddad’s friend, Uncle Son, who helps Bird grieve. This is an outstanding book – in text, lyrical, in production values, exceptional, and in illustration, remarkable. The artwork consists of Bird’s pencilled drawings of the city, overlaid with coloured pictures of Bird and his family – highly effective and quite beautiful. A moving and important book that goes some way to explaining the terrible effects of addiction on one family, but leaving us with hope for Bird’s future. Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award in the United States.

Elizabeth Schlenther
November 2009, No. 179

Guide to the rating system:
***** 5 stars, unmissable
**** 4 stars, very good
*** 3 stars, good
** 2 stars, fair
* 1 star, poor