Bird

Johnson, Angela. Bird. New York: Dial Books, 2004.

[Book cover credit: www.alibris.com]

Genre: Realistic/Issues

Annotation:
Bird, a thirteen year old girl, was crushed when she lost her stepfather. This is a story of her quest to convince him to come home and the relationships she makes along the way.

Booktalk Review:
Bird is devasted that her stepfather, Cecil, has left the family.

Cecil used to wake me up at about five o'clock in the morning to go out and run with him. He said he couldn't think of anybody else in the world who didn't mind getting up that early and had the energy of a hummingbird.
I guess that's why he always called me Bird.
When he left I began thinking that nobody else would ever call me that again, and my heart started to hurt. I remember that I sat out on the stoop and watched people go by for hours and hours without seeing any of their faces. I sat there till the sun started to go down and Mom finally came out and said, "He's not coming back, so you might as well come on in and get on with it."
I did get on with it. [p.9]

This beautifully written book will suck you into the life of the unforgettable Bird.

Check out this website for more information about the author:
http://www.visitingauthors.com/authors/johnson_angela/johnson_angela_bio.html