Birdspell by Valerie Sherrard
Shortlisted for the 2022 Mrs. Dunster's Award for Fiction
Don't let the whimsical David Jardine cover art of Birdspell fool you into thinking this is one of Ms. Sherrard's "fun" YA novels like The Rise and Fall of Derek Cowell or Random Acts. No, Birdspell is more like The Glory Wind or Driftwood in that it deals with a mature subject wrapped in a young reader novel. Her writing excels at being relevant to issues that face young people, and Birdspell is no exception, as it deals with a Grade-sixer named Corbin Hayes who must deal with his mother Rhea’s uncontrolled bipolar disorder.
Corbin has lived with his mother's issues so long that he is independent by necessity. His mother finds jobs, then gets fired. With no income, they eventually get evicted and they have to move. Corbin prefers to remain friendless and detached due to such an itinerant lifestyle.
One day, a schoolmate, Izelle, offers Corbin her pet parakeet Sitta, which she can no longer keep at home due to allergy concerns. Corbin jumps at the opportunity of having a pet, and a bird seems like a good choice for how they live, a "minimalist" lifestyle, as he tells people. It makes it easier to move when you have no furniture. Sitta quickly becomes his confidante as Corbin is hesitant to share details about his life.
"Don't get me wrong. I love my mother, but it's hard, the way life is with her. And I try to protect her, but there's only so much I can do, or hide. I know, for example, that old Mr. Zinbendal across the hall has been hearing things. And that old geezer has troublemaker written all over him."
Sitta dropped an oystery splotch on the cushion and flew back down the hall.
Eventually, the longer they stay at their present address, the more Corbin feels grounded enough to attempt some tentative steps towards friendship with Izelle, Mr. Zinbendal and Taylor, a young girl he babysits for in his building to make a few extra dollars. Things seem to be going well when Rhea crashes hard and requires hospitalization for an extended period in the Psych ward. How will Corbin fare now?
An extremely good middle-grader read, Birdspell truly had me engrossed from page one. A serious mental health issue, a single-parent household and a young boy called upon to live by his wits during his mother's ups and downs, there is no shortage of drama in Corbin's life. This book is highly recommended for readers from middle school age and above.
About the Author
Valerie Sherrard is an award-winning author of picture books and young adult novels. Her novel The Glory Wind won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction and the Ann Conner Brimer Award. Sherrard’s first novel in verse, Counting Back from Nine was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award. Her works have been chosen as Red Maple and White Pine Award Honour Books, and she has been nominated for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and Snow Willow Award. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she now lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick.
About the Reviewer
James M. Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of The Seaboard Review of Books. He lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick, with his wife Diane, their Tabby cat Eddie and Buster the Border Collie. James works as an MRI Technologist at the Miramichi Hospital.
Book Details
Publisher : DCB
Publication date : March 13 2021
Language : English
Print length : 232 pages
ISBN-10 : 1770866132
ISBN-13 : 978-1770866133
This looks wonderful. We need more YA novels that help young people to recognize and cope with adult mental health issues.
Fantastic review. The detail about Corbin's deliberate detatchment because of constant moves really caught my attention. Theres something profound about how instability forces kids to develop this kind of protective distance, but then the parakeet becomes the first thing stable enough to actually attatch to. The way Sherrard handles serious mental health stuff through a middle-grade lens without dumbing it down is exactly what we need more of.