Bird

by Crystal Chan

'Grandpa stopped speaking the day he killed my brother, John. His name was John until Grandpa said he looked more like a Bird with the way he kept jumping off things, and the name stuck. Bird’s thick, black hair poked out in every direction, just like the head feathers of the blackbirds, Grandpa said, and he bet that one day Bird would fly like one too. Grandpa kept talking like that, and no one paid him much notice until Bird jumped off a cliff, the cliff at the edge of the tallgrass prairie, the cliff that dropped a good couple hundred feet to a dried-up riverbed below. From that day on, Grandpa never spoke another word. Not one.

The day that Bird tried to fly, the grown-ups were out looking for him – all of them except Mom and Granny. That’s because that very day, I was born.'

Twelve-year-old Jewel never knew her brother, but all her life she has lived in his shadow. Then one night, on her birthday, she finds a mysterious boy sitting in her oak tree. His name is John. And he changes everything.

• ISBN10: 1848531257
• ISBN13: 9781848531253
• Publish Date: 2 July 2015 (first published 28 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
• Imprint: Tamarind Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

Win a copy of bird http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/02/bird-by-crystal-chan-tour-review-anz.html

Bird was a beautifully haunting and poignant story about love, loss and how sometimes a family needs to fall apart before we can put it back together. Jewel is an intelligent and empathetic young lady, who deserves to be seen, to be nurtured and to be loved. Her parents may not have intentionally placed expectations upon Jewel, but Jewel certainly has. She sees herself as the replacement child for her brother Bird. Where Bird had the best of her family, now Jewel getting only what remains. Her story is incredibly sad, until John enters the picture. John shares his name with Bird, his real name that is, and may even be a mirror of what Bird may have looked like at the same age. The family believe it may be a sign, whether one of evil or not is yet to be seen.

Unbelievably, this is a debut novel. Crystal Chan is a storyteller who paints a vivid picture for her readers, and fills it with indepth characters that will take your emotions to the limits. I absolutely loved Jewel's character. She may be only twelve, but she felt like an old soul that deserves more than what life has given her. Her parents weren't cruel, but too busy grieving for Bird, that even twelve years later they can't find the strength to provide a life for their living child. With no one to talk to, Jewel finds solace in the earth. Each grievance is placed upon a stone and buried, using it as a coping mechanism as she's scared to upset her parents any further. It takes her grandpa who begins to form a relationship with Jewel to see how special this young lady truly is. Her journey was heartbreaking, often leaving me highly emotional which for me is the sign of a brilliant author. As the story built and reached a crescendo, I found myself quietly sobbing, smiling and sighing.

Bird is the middle grade equivalent to The Fault in our Stars.