Extraordinary Birds: Review

224 pages Expected publication: April 30th 2019 by Bloomsbury

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the e-arc.

This heartfelt story follows 11 yo December as she navigates life while being bounced from foster home to foster home. To help herself through the abandonment of her mother, she starts a journal in which she imagines herself as a bird. Well, she more than believes it, she thinks she IS a bird. Her imagination covers up the scars of her past, but ironically, keeps her planted where she is because she doesn’t trust easily and plans to fly away before any meaningful relationships could begin. Then, she meets Eleanor, who is a bird enthusiast like December, and also works at an animal rehabilitation center. Learning to trust Eleanor doesn’t come easy for December, and her past keeps attempting to push its way through. But will she let it or keep pretending?

This book…was fascinating. The author mixed in bird facts. It amazed me how well she fit them into the narrative and didn’t bore me at all. In fact, I learned a lot. December’s unreliable POV was well done. The scar on her back that she pretends is where her wings will pop through, and the real reason for them kept me on the edge of my seat and also broke my heart for her.

Something I have yet to see in a middle-grade novel is a character like Cheryllyn, who is a boy in the middle of a gender change to a girl. Cheryllyn is targeted for this at school, but none of it makes a difference to December, who befriends her. Although this is not a major plot point, it still affects the story if you look at the deeper meaning.

This book was beautifully written. I was amazed how such a small book could hold such a cast of empathetic and amazing characters. This book was too short for how wonderful it was. That is my only complaint. I will be ordering a copy ASAP when it releases in April. This is one for the bookshelf.