Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bird Zetta Elliott Shadra Strickland


Bird by Zetta Elliott and illustrated by Shadra Strickland. I heard a lot of good things about this book and now I will add a few of my own. Mehkai goes by the name Bird, this is his journal. Each entry is a poem. A lot is going on in Bird's life. His grandfather recently passed. His older brother Marcus has become addicted to drugs. Birds writings and drawings give him the oppurtunity to heal. Bird remembers the good times he shared with his grandfather. He writes about his brothers artisic talent. Through Bird's words you can feel how much he loves his family and looked up to his older brother. Its not all happy, there is some anger and sadness. I loved Elliott's writing, the simplicity made it that much better. As I contiuned to read Bird and his family became more real. Marcus is not painted as a villian. He's lost but still loves his younger brother. Strickland's illustrations enhance the story. The illustrations allow the reader to enjoy Bird's words that much more. Many families are affected by addiction. Elliott has written a book that will enable the youngest family members to talk about their feelings. Young readers will easliy relate to Bird's words.

Author Book Talk

Zetta Elliott has another book out called A Wish After Midnight check out The Trailer
Elliott will be getting $20 of my refund money.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the review and the shout-out, Doret! I'm *so* proud of Shadra and so honored that her beautiful illustrations grace the pages of my book. Oops--I mean OUR book...