Annie is angry. Her whole life has been smashed to pieces after a terrible accident.
Before the car accident, Annie was a talented musician with her flute almost an extension of her own arm. But now her fingers don’t work like they used to, and the music that used to effortlessly flow from her seems to have dried up completely.
She doesn’t see the point in the physiotherapy exercises for her injured arm, secretly worried that they won’t work and too scared to really find out. It’s only after having to move to a smaller home and meeting a bird-loving boy, that she even wants to leave the house.
Noah is a boy who hears and loves a different kind of music – the song of the birds that live around them. His love and care of a blackbird family intrigues Annie and she is soon helping him. Enjoying being outside, Noah’s company and a task that isn’t all about her recovery, Annie begins to use her arm without over thinking it.
Tragedy strikes but through that external love and care of another, Annie finds her way back to the song and music of the world around her, reigniting it within her.
A beautiful story from the winner of the Carnegie Medal. Written for Dyslexic or Reluctant readers, Birdsong is a perfect storm of emotions – anger, loss, grief, happiness, and then hope. The illustrations compliment this story perfectly as a young girl deals with the uncertainty of getting her life and love of music back after a car accident.
A new friendship without expectation or judgement along with Nature as a balm, is the perfect way to begin a healing process much needed for the character to move on.
No matter what Katya Balen writes, she always leaves me spellbound, smiling, or with my heart aglow. Birdsong left me with all three.
Author – Katya Balen
Dyslexic Title
Reading Age 8 – Interest Age 9+
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(2022, Harper Collins, Dyslexic Title, Reluctant Readers, Dyslexia, Birds, Animals, Friendship, New Friend, Accident, Trauma, Music, Songbirds, Blackbirds, Chicks, Protection, New Home, Angry, Flute, Physiotherapy, Healing, Blame, Hope)