Wings

Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark-McGinnis

I think birds are the most amazing creatures on earth. What sets them apart is their ability to fly on their own.

Abandoned by her mother and placed in foster care, eleven-year-old December Lee Morgan has developed her own survival strategy. Convinced that she is a bird and that the scar on her back conceals a magnificent pair of wings waiting to unfurl, she spends countless hours high up in trees, jumping off in preparation for the time when she can fly. She restricts her diet to foods that birds might consume, chiefly sunflower seeds.

This makes her a problematic placement. Moving from one family to another, she is eventually placed in the home of Eleanor, who works at an animal rehabilitation center. In her spare time, she enjoys taxidermy. Upon learning this, December is horrified and speculates that this Bird Girl will be the next specimen to be killed and stuffed.
​December absconds with one of Eleanor's projects: a stuffed owl. She decides to carry the owl with her in her backpack.

Then there is the problem of Bird Girl sneaking off, climbing trees, and attempting to fly from the topmost branches. Alone. After dark.

How will such a fragile child living with a history of cruelty and neglect survive? ​

December expects to be ridiculed and ostracized by her new classmates. True to form, a pack of "shiny" girls recognize a vulnerable target.  They zero in on this strange newcomer and begin to taunt her, riffling through December's backpack, discovering her secret journal and the owl stolen from Eleanor's workshop.   

​What she doesn't expect is Cheryllynn, the lonely girl wearing a pink raincoat, who wants to be December's friend. December initially rebuffs her friendly overtures. The two outcasts: transgender Cheryllynn, formerly known as Charlie, and physically and emotionally scarred December take tentative steps toward building a friendship. 
​December's developing relationships with her foster parent and a potential friend have several missteps. It is difficult for this girl to cast off her protective shell and trust anyone. Eleanor, ​Cheryllynn, and December each have deep-seated emotional wounds. They become the source of rescue and rehabilitation for one another.

Eleanor enlists December to help an injured red-tailed hawk. She must create a bond of trust with the bird and train it to fly again. The trajectory for the hawk to recover from debilitating circumstances and learn to take flight parallels her trainer’s path to healing. 

Sandy Stark-McGinnis has created a character that is brutally honest while simultaneously clinging to a distorted view of herself and her past. This is her story. "It's my story, and it belongs to only me."

Extraordinary Birds is poignant story of learning to trust. Of finding hope.

“Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe.
​But what do dreams know of boundaries?” Amelia Earhart

Uncorrected copy provided by publisher.

Pub date: April 30, 2019  Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books  ISBN:  978-1547601004