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Summer and Bird

by Katherine Catmull (Goodreads Author)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 241 ratings · 107 reviews

An enchanting—and twisted—tale of two sisters’ quest to find their parents

When their parents disappear in the middle of the night, young sisters Summer and Bird set off on a quest to find them. A cryptic picture message from their mother leads them to a familiar gate in the woods, but comfortable sights quickly give way to a new world entirely—Down—one inhabited by talking...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published October 2nd 2012 by Dutton Juvenile

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Community Reviews

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Feb 22, 2013 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals-die, arc, cover-love, didn-t-live-up-to-expectations, depressing, debut-authors-2012, fantasy, for-review, i-cried, middleschoolers, the-tough-stuff, zzzzzzzzz

Summer and Bird was something. I loved it and hated it at the same time. That's right. It was one of THOSE books. There was an equal amount of like and dislike, and I guess I should start with the positive qualities first.

I really liked the writing style. For a first book, you would never be able to tell. I am usually a fan of books where the writing has a dreamy/whimsical style. This book had that and I really enjoyed the way the narrator told the story. Yes, Summer and Bird is written in third...more Summer and Bird was something. I loved it and hated it at the same time. That's right. It was one of THOSE books. There was an equal amount of like and dislike, and I guess I should start with the positive qualities first.

I really liked the writing style. For a first book, you would never be able to tell. I am usually a fan of books where the writing has a dreamy/whimsical style. This book had that and I really enjoyed the way the narrator told the story. Yes, Summer and Bird is written in third person omniscient point of view. And I LIKED it. I don't read a lot of books with this POV--it's not that common anyway--but the ones I have read I felt were executed well. This one is no different. The only thing I wish is that we found out some information about the narrator. Had no idea who it was.

But make no mistake. This is a very serious book that has a lot to say, and it includes some mature themes about family, divorce, being estranged and other things like it. It's not really a happy book at all despite its writing style. The tone is a bit heavy and depressing which I have no problem with at all, I just want you to be prepared if you decide to read it. If you are looking for fun and mindless, you will not find it here. None of the material is inappropriate though, it's just a much more serious book than I expected it to be.

So there is this Bird Queen. And the other birds call her the puppeteer because she makes paper birds out of many different colors and controls them with magic, dance, and strings. She's actually an extremely talented woman, but she has wanted to be a bird and fly for so long that her heart has become corrupted. And the thing is she's not actually the Bird Queen, she just took over the position when the real queen disappeared. And now she is the dictator of birdland and all the other birds are afraid of her. She eats them so they fly inside her body and give her bird-strength until they die. This can be a very morbid book at times.

You'll also travel along with Summer and Bird--sisters--as they try to find their parents in birdland which in the book is called "Down." You see Summer and Bird's parents disappear one night and the girls receive a picture message from their mother which they solve and somehow end up in "Down." They meet some special characters and some pretty terrifying ones, but most of all, this is about a journey of the heart and a coming of age story for both girls.

So what didn't I like about the book? Well, there were times when it was pretty damn boring. There, I said it. I put it down enough times to the point where I realized the book was not holding my attention as it should have been. It just took so long to get from one plot point to the next. I felt like taking naps in between. I may have actually done that. I nap a lot. ;) It just wasn't an exciting book. The setting was kind of boring as well. It was this barren, snow-covered landscape and the only thing interesting in "Down" was a giant tree and the birds themselves (and there aren't that many of them that play a pivotal role). The rest of the time the characters were trudging through a field or a forest. It was just all very blah.

Lastly, I was unsatisfied with the ending AND the character development. I just didn't care about these characters as much as I should have. When they talked they all sounded the same. The only thing differentiating Summer from her sister was their physical description. Otherwise you would never know. Every character had a similar voice. They didn't get much of a backstory either. And anyone who is any kind of writer knows that characters need a backstory, flaws, and a personality to make the reader care. And in my opinion, most of that was absent. The ending was completely bittersweet and I guess it sort of had to end that way, but I still found it very frustrating and unsatisfying. I can say it does teach some useful lessons about different family dynamics though.

Still, if you are looking for a book that is beautifully written and are wanting to be presented with some fairly original and unique ideas, I think you might enjoy this one. As long as you go in expecting it not to be perfect or expecting to finish it in one sitting, you should be good. I will leave you with my favorite quote from the book.

"Winter never altogether vanishes, even in the warmest summer. You can always find it lingering, if you look." ~Quote taken from ARC copy and may have been changed. (less)

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May 12, 2012 Audrey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-scout-internship, fiction, young-adult-middle-grade

Summer and Bird is a lot like a Neil Gaiman novel, and that said, it will appeal to a wide age range. It's about two girls who's mother is the Queen of the birds, and who has suddenly found her lost swan skin that will allow her to retake her bird form. She runs away to lead the birds to their true home, and her two daughters race to follow her into Down, a parallel world to ours where everything is a lot more magical. The youngest, Bird, has always felt like she should be a bird, and that is he...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Littlebearries rated it 5 of 5 stars

Characters:
Summer: One of two main characters, Summer is the older sister. Summer is responsible and big-sisterly... trying to take charge and control the situation when their parents disappear. I really enjoyed every chapter from Summer's perspective... and even though she could be annoying at times (in the "I'm older than you, so we'll do what I say" kind of way that big sisters have) ... it was character appropriate annoyingness, which only made her character stronger.
Bird: One of two main ch...more Characters:
Summer: One of two main characters, Summer is the older sister. Summer is responsible and big-sisterly... trying to take charge and control the situation when their parents disappear. I really enjoyed every chapter from Summer's perspective... and even though she could be annoying at times (in the "I'm older than you, so we'll do what I say" kind of way that big sisters have) ... it was character appropriate annoyingness, which only made her character stronger.
Bird: One of two main characters, Bird is the younger sister. She shares many characteristics with the creatures after which she was named. She's stubborn and sometimes acts dreadfully, but considering her age, it's all appropriate and she remains likeable, despite some of her actions.
Raven: Summer's Ally in the bird world, I enjoyed this character and would have liked to have found out more about her.
Ben: The mysterious old man who helps Summer out and gives her three gifts. I enjoyed him immensely... and was glad to see him return later in the book.
The Puppeteer: The villian of the story, I found her background to be really interesting, and her habits, especially her eating habits, to be horrifying. I thought she was an excellent villian.
Sarah: Summer and Bird's cat... another character that I *really* wanted to know more about.
Mother: Summer and Bird's mother, and a woman who is more than what she seemed.
Father: Summer and Bird's father, who was a very sad character in the book.
Owl: One more character who I really wished I'd known more about.

Writing: The book was a quick, easy read... but the language was rich and intriguing. Katherine Catmull has a very interesting way of writing where she reveals things that will be said in the future... but in such a way as to add to the present storyline without ruining what will happen in the story. It's something I really enjoyed, and haven't seen before in a YA novel. The characters were lovely and my only wish is that, when reaching the end of the book, I had known more about them. By the end of the book, you know Summer and Bird quite well, but all the supporting cast is still very, very lacking in background story. The world that Catmull created was rich and overflowing... so you know these side characters must have amazing stories themselves.

Ending: Bittersweet is the only real word for it. I'm hoping more books will be written in this world.

Plot: This plot is rich with the mythology of birds. It's a world where magic exists, and where elements from myths we've all heard (the World Tree and Serpent) are woven in beautifully. Like I've already mentioned, the only thing I wish is that there was more development of the side characters. I still am not sure who exactly Sarah and the Owl were when it came to their own personal motivations. The story itself flows nicely though... but I have to say, the main Villian issues were resolved about 3/4 of the way through the book, which was a great thing, because it left you wondering, "What's going to happen next?!"

Believability of World: Very believable, since it was made clear from almost the beginning, that magic is a part of this world.

Overall Grade: A ~ I really enjoyed reading this book, and my only gripe is that I wanted to know more about the side characters, which is just me being greedy, since the story was about Summer and Bird, and it developed and covered them wonderfully.(less)

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Feb 04, 2013 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dutton Children's Books, 2012
Fantasy
344 pages
Recommended for grades...Well, I don't really know!

Some quick things first: Catmull pulled the lucky card on her cover art, because this cover is stunning. And can we just take a moment to mourn all the excellent books out there that have the most awful covers EVER? I truly don't know what some publishers are thinking. Anyway, the cover is what drew me to this book at the book store. The blurbs were enticing, and I was truly wanting to find out what t...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Ananya rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was overall mediocre, but it could've been great. It was heavy, dreamy, and hardly phenomenal, but had the potential to be...the lovely, descriptive, intricate prose was wonderful, but the parenthetical narration was annoying and unnecessary. Next, the ideas were very good, of the Puppeteer and the World Tree and the parents pulled together and apart, though excessively bird-centered. The themes, of the puppets and who you really are, were artfully done. However, it lacked any characte...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Jonelle Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just finished Summer & Bird. It’s brilliant. But not because it’s beautifully written (which it is), or a lovely story (which it becomes) – it’s great because somewhere along the line, no matter who you are or where you come from, you see your own hopes and fears and desires and dilemmas through the eyes of the two sisters who are trying to put their world back together.

Summer and Bird make their way through a landscape that is nothing like ours, and everything like ours. Who hasn’t found...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Rebecca Lunny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-s, fun-adults-read-young-adult, kindle-reading, perks-of-working-at-a-bookstore, 2012, favorites

This is one of those books I think everyone should read. Does it have some flaws? Yes, of course it does. The very, very end was unsatisfying but everything else was great.

I think, maybe, that this was one of those books that came around at just the right time for me. I identified with one of the main characters, Summer, so hard that it hurt some times: the big sister who is not-so-secretly jealous of her younger sister's untameable ways.

"All their lives, Bird had been the difficult one, the unm...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Wandering Librarians rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, fiction, fantasy, family

One morning Summer and Bird wake up to find their parents gone. Following a picture message their mother has left, Summer and Bird find themselves in and underground world of birds, where their Queen, a swan, has been missing for 13 years. In her place is the Puppeteer, who has plotted to take over, if only she can have the swan queen's robe. Separated, Summer and Bird go on very different journeys, each seeking her heart's desire.

The story is loosely based on a number of fairy tales where swans...more One morning Summer and Bird wake up to find their parents gone. Following a picture message their mother has left, Summer and Bird find themselves in and underground world of birds, where their Queen, a swan, has been missing for 13 years. In her place is the Puppeteer, who has plotted to take over, if only she can have the swan queen's robe. Separated, Summer and Bird go on very different journeys, each seeking her heart's desire.

The story is loosely based on a number of fairy tales where swans can take human form - The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Anderson, or perhaps Swan Lake. As is typical, a man sees a beautiful woman emerge from the body of a swan (or a seal or whatever) and because of his love for her hides her swan robe so she cannot transform. Quite out of character, the man realizes this was a cruel move and not one of love and tries to return the robe to his now wife, but the robe is gone, stolen by someone who wants to be the swan queen. The couple has two children, one who is more bird than the other and wants to be a bird more than anything. But the children do not know about their mother's secret identity, and that although she loves them she also longs to return to her birds.

My biggest struggle when reading this was the question, "Who is this book for?" and I don't know if it's for a YA audience. Yes, it focuses on two young girls, but the fact that the girls are so young (8 and 12) and it's not written for middle school students causes me to think even more that this is not a children's book. It's coming from Penguin Young Readers Group, and it's marketed toward YA, but...it's just not. Yes, the characters are children, but it's not about the children.

We are looking at the very adult journeys of two very young people. And the way that their journeys are reflected on is very adult, not the children themselves examining themselves and understanding what's happening. There is a removal of the childishness, a reflection that is outside of the child's experience. We are looking back on these things that happened to these children and understanding them in an adult way. There is no actual connection to young people, even though the characters are young.

Summer and Bird is very lyrical. It's other worldly and the language is quite lovely. Summer and Bird travel through strange and mysterious places that are richly described. They face inner demons and struggle with the feeling of betrayal from their parents. But again, we don't actually get to experience their realistic child-like emotions. We get a distant understanding and analysis of what they are experiencing.

One thing bothered me in particular. Summer and the ravens come to rescue Bird and their mother, who is in the form of a swan. Bird, in her anger and confusion won't come, so Summer and the swan are carried away by the ravens, leaving Bird with the evil Puppeteer. The swan is calling out in horrible distress, because her baby is being left behind. And then they don't go back for her. Oh, there are reasons. The swan has a hurt foot so she cannot fly. Their father is too sick and weak. But seriously, they're their parents. If the swan could get a bunch of birds to carry her a few chapters later, you'd think she'd get them to do it to go back for her child. Or that their father, not matter how sick and weak he might have been, would have tried to go back for bird. I did not buy that they'd leave her there for weeks longer.

It was a lovely read, but not a YA book. That doesn't mean a teenager wouldn't read it and love it, they might, but I do not think the target audience of Summer and Bird should be teens.

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Oct 19, 2012 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, arc

I loved the whimsical, fairy-tale, fable-ish prose. It has that Narnia thing going on, where really dark and difficult themes and ideas are packaged and made palatable to kids through the language (well, some kids- there are scenes in the book that I wouldn't have been comfortable hearing until I was on the far end of the middle grade spectrum). The only qualm I have is that it's a bit TOO Narnia-Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, to the point where it can feel derivative. The villain here is a...more

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Oct 08, 2012 TheBookSmugglers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Once upon a time, a young man fell in love with the beautiful Swan Queen. He stole and hid her swan robe and the Queen fell in love with him because he had part of her soul.

Once upon a time (and at around that same time) a dancer wished for nothing more than to be the Queen of the Birds. She found the hidden Swan Queen’s robe and took it away leaving the Swan Queen stranded as a human and her bird-courtiers bereft and lost. The dancer became the bird’s Regent and a Grand Master of Events.

Once up...more Once upon a time, a young man fell in love with the beautiful Swan Queen. He stole and hid her swan robe and the Queen fell in love with him because he had part of her soul.

Once upon a time (and at around that same time) a dancer wished for nothing more than to be the Queen of the Birds. She found the hidden Swan Queen’s robe and took it away leaving the Swan Queen stranded as a human and her bird-courtiers bereft and lost. The dancer became the bird’s Regent and a Grand Master of Events.

Once upon a time (but only a few years after the aforementioned events) two young sisters – Summer and Bird – woke to find their parents gone. A cryptic message from their mother lead then to the forest and to Down, a fantastical world inhabited by talking birds and the string-pulling Puppeteer. There, they separated and each took a journey to find not only their parents but also their true souls.

Summer and Bird unfolds with the parallel stories of the two sisters, following their quest and coming of age arcs in a Fantasy setting with a fairytale atmosphere and patterns. Those elements are incorporated in the story mostly via its narrator – an omniscient, self-aware narrator who often foreshadows by using asides – in a way that makes Summer and Bird a book that is very much aware that it is a fairytale.

This proved to be a mixed bag for me. This self-awareness works beautifully when it comes to its themes. At its core, Summer and Bird is a raw and poignant tale of a family split apart by both external and internal events. Things are somewhat set in motion by its villain but there is a clear acknowledgement that what matters here are the actions and reactions of the main characters. The examination of Summer and Bird’s parents’ relationship for example and especially how it came to be, what brought the two together and what kept them together is incredibly thought-provoking. It is a relationship that follows a recurring motif in fairytales: the folkloric creature who is both human and animal and whose magical pelt is stolen by a lover. Two of the main emotional focal points of the novel are both this morally ambiguous relationship and the way it affects the lives of their children. Another one is the relationship between the two sisters and the way they feel about each other, about their parents and how they see the world. Theirs is a charged relationship, fraught with loyalty and devotion as well as rivalry and jealousy.

There is also a great exploration of themes like what happens to a kingdom when there is a complete reliance on a monarch to lead them – and what happens to the subjects when their Queen disappears. I loved to see the different possible ways that such an event can affect lives – there are those that despair and those who find a different way and so on and so forth.

That said, this self-awareness also kind of allows the writer a freedom to play with the characters and plot arbitrarily, in a way that didn’t quite feel natural. There is a very strong tendency to explain things via innate talent and hard-wired (rather than acquired) abilities that didn’t sit that well with me.

The lyrical prose often felt forced, especially when it involved frustratingly cryptic conversations:

‘It might mean just exactly that,’ said Ben. ‘But it might also mean more than that.’

Granted that in a way, those actually play really well with the fairytale motif and how one can read stories and clues in different ways but unfortunately those types of conversations were repeated many, many times. The meandering, overlong and repetitions nature of the story detracts from any sense of urgency. I am not exaggerating: when under extreme emotion characters would simply sit down to cry abundant tears and given the number of times this happens, those tears would be enough to fill an entire Ocean of Angst.

Despite all that, there is a lot here that is actually really, really good – the themes, the characters, the beautifully imagined world. I especially loved how this is a story that acknowledges the potential for darkness in fairytales without making this fable an entirely bleak one and this route is followed all the way through to its bittersweet conclusion. I’d really recommend it to those who love fairytales and who wouldn’t mind a slightly flawed (and perhaps a little bit boring, if I am being honest) execution. (less)

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Aug 28, 2012 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tale, young-adult, middle-grades

In Katherine Catmull's eloquent debut novel, Summer and Bird are two girls facing a time-honored fairy tale trial: their parents have run away to the Woods, and so they go on a quest to find them and to bring them back home. This story doesn't have a Disney style fairy tale's cheerful adventures, persistent cuteness, and the promise of a happy ending. Instead Summer and Bird uses an unsettling and grim magical realism that reminded me of del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Magical realism isn't a common...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

I expected from this a classic "children travel through a magical entrance and find out magical things" storyline, and is that, but is also something else, as Ben is fond of saying. Some of that worked for me, and some of it didn't.

For what didn't work, the pace was quite slow in places, and I had trouble staying with the story for any length of time. I fell asleep reading this no fewer than three times and was making at best 4-5 pages at a go. Fortunately for the book, I had a library deadline...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Briana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Summer and Bird is one of those unexpected books, one that is so lyrical and so differently magical that a summary can never prepare the reader adequately. For, in plot, this book is about two girls on go on an adventure through a strange bird land to find their mother whom they never knew was partly swan. Yet in essence, it is something else, for it strives to make its unique prose and philosophy as important as the action; in fact, the philosophy Summer and Bird learn are essential to making...more Summer and Bird is one of those unexpected books, one that is so lyrical and so differently magical that a summary can never prepare the reader adequately. For, in plot, this book is about two girls on go on an adventure through a strange bird land to find their mother whom they never knew was partly swan. Yet in essence, it is something else, for it strives to make its unique prose and philosophy as important as the action; in fact, the philosophy Summer and Bird learn are essential to making the action happen.

Whether the approach is a complete success is a question that must be answered by each reader personally. In my opinion, the writing is gorgeous and often musical. It falls short only sometimes in the dialogue, when characters who are clearly supposed to be sounding other worldly simply sound a bit dull. Repeating vague statements does not necessarily make one sound profound.

The philosophy is a bit more problematic. Something about the thoughts presented ring, not false, but not exactly true either. The text speaks about souls, true selves, right paths, the truth, etc. It generally sounds beautiful and as if part of it ought to be right, but none of it ever fully clicked with my worldview. Other readers will have to judge for themselves.

The characters also do not click precisely, but neither are they supposed to. This is a story about the characters, not one that invites the reader to become their best friend, and that tone was exactly right for this tale. Summer and Snow have moments of seeming much older than their ages, as they ought to in a book where they are called to be much more than they might have thought they were. Yet often they are very much just little kids. This is appropriate, and true. Will a middle grade audience love them for it? I do not know. But it certainly helps this book be an utterly charming read for adults, as does the poignant ending.

Summer and Snow is more an experience than an action-packed adventure. Readers are invited Down where the world is beautiful and magical but completely strange. Like Summer and Snow’s father, the readers are only human, and Down is a world for birds. For a moment, we are let in to learn about their culture, their history, and their truths. But this world is never homey, and we are not part of the Great Conversation. That is quite enough, however, and just about as it ought to be.(less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Shazzer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-middle-grade, middle-grade

As posted on Outside of a Dog:

Fairy tales survive because they are a part of us. There are coded into our DNA, and all around the world, we find ourselves telling the same stories, over and over. A good fairy tale is also familiar to us. We know it in our bones, even if we’ve never heard it before. Katherine Catmull’s debut novel, Summer and Bird, if full of familiar fairy tale tropes, but when put all together, is wholly unique.

Summer and Bird are sisters, living in a house next to a stream by...more As posted on Outside of a Dog:

Fairy tales survive because they are a part of us. There are coded into our DNA, and all around the world, we find ourselves telling the same stories, over and over. A good fairy tale is also familiar to us. We know it in our bones, even if we’ve never heard it before. Katherine Catmull’s debut novel, Summer and Bird, if full of familiar fairy tale tropes, but when put all together, is wholly unique.

Summer and Bird are sisters, living in a house next to a stream by the woods. One morning, they wake up to find their parents are gone. A picture letter left by their mother leads them into the woods where they are soon separated. Summer now feels she must find both her sister and her parents, while Bird has disappeared on a journey of her own self-discovery. The girls confront the mysteries of the forest, the vagaries of the birds and the secret their parents have kept for so long. Summer must learn to be a leader and a follower, and Bird finds herself in the thrall of the evil Puppeteer, who wants nothing more than to be Queen of the birds. Can the girls find each other, help each other and save their lost father and captured mother before it’s too late?

Summer and Bird is not what I would call an easy read. It takes concentration and commitment. Catmull sometimes lets her language and style get away from her and it doesn’t always serve the story (too many sentence fragments for my taste). But when you look at the skeleton of the story, it’s really quite remarkable. Catmull has taken features we all know (changelings and enchanted queens, etc) and made from them something new and curious. There are wonderful fantasy elements at play here: spirit birds, a World Tree, a villain who eats birds whole. Catmull’s world building is top notch.

While I think this is easily identified as a first novel (wrangle in your flowery language!), it is a beautiful one, and one that I can readily see becoming a fairy tale classic years down the road, like Ella Enchanted, which also bent a few rules in its path to greatness.
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Sep 17, 2012 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I got this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and am glad I did :)

Summer is a practical and loving young girl, older sister to Bird, a wild and free-spirited, sometimes irrational little girl. Summer and Bird. This is a lovely story completely out of the ordinary. After waking up to find their parents, and cat Sarah, missing one morning, Summer and Bird embark on a magical adventure which will change their lives forever. A beautiful swan queen, an evil puppeteer, a mysteri...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals, bullies, community, dance, death, fairy-tales, fantasy, folk-tales, friendship, ncbla2013, travel, writing

I wasn't sure where the author was taking me when I first opened this book, but I quickly realized that Summer and Bird were the offspring of a human father and a swan queen mother. Although they start off together in their search for their missing parents, they end up separated for various reasons. Summer becomes convinced that Bird has died in a fire, and Bird is determined to become queen of the swans herself. Along their separate journeys, both encounter good and evil, for Bird particularly,...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Queen Taco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: did-not-finish

I got an ARC copy of this book from librarything.com.
Summer and Bird is the story of two sisters who go on a quest to find their parents. On their adventure they go into a magical world called Down, where the Puppeteer, a ravenous queen, rules. They aim to find their parents and figure out who the true heir to the swan throne is.

I loved the lyrical, magical language that Catmull told this story in. It made my reading experience so much better, and allowed for the reader to truly understand and...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Katy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, ya-fantasy

This is more like a 3.5/5 or a 7/10 for me. After reading the first couple of chapters I was sold on the mystery and on my emotional attachment to these girls. I also was enjoying the lyrical writing. It reminded me in the beginning of Cat Valente's writing style in the Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, and that is one of my favorite books EVER. So I fully expected to be totally invested in the rest of the book. Except I wasn't. There was a lot of repetitiveness and lyrical writing seemed grat...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Janelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story has crept under my skin. It invaded my heart and brought tears to my eyes. At times I was enthralled with it, and at times I was angry. My rating, that has gone up to five and down to three, is now resting calmly on a four.

I typically like to read Disney-like fairytales. The ones where the prince and princess fall in love and live happily ever after with the sweet forest animals to forever be their friends. But, like the book says, those scenes with Cinderella and her helpful bird com...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Jess rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a beautiful and surprising book that I'm so glad I found. This was on the giveaway table at work and I picked it up in the midst of a sort of book hangover after reading the Song of Ice and Fire series. I was still so immersed in that world, with my head caught up with those characters, that I felt at a loss for what to read next.

The imagery is so evocative that it curled right into my heart. I love stories that feel like this: fairytales that are dark and true and embrace the natural w...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Karl rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's still hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that this is a debut novel. The prose is, in a (vague) word, evocative, and the way the author plays with the perspective allows for quite a bit more dramatic irony to be drawn out of the narrative. The world she builds, too, is dreamy, drawing from a host of folk and fairy tales, but that fantastic element blends well with the very real hopes and fears of the titular protagonists, their frantic search for their parents in a strange land lea...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Roberto Penas rated it 4 of 5 stars

A mesmerizing, beautifully written book, with a lyricism comparable to Erin Bow's "Plain Kate". However as a (male) Amazon reviewer put it, there was a tad much female angst for (male) readers like me. The storyline concerns the relationship between two sisters and their otherworldly mother - the father is almost a peripheral figure. Emotionally intense, with few bright moments and almost no humor, its is driven more by inner conflict than outward events. There is a villain and high, external st...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a teacher and discovered this book while shopping in the Children's Section at Barnes and Noble. I often choose "Middle Reader" books, because they are well written, present intriguing moral and personal choices to young teens, and have hints of magical fairy tales. This book was fun to read and entertaining. The book attracted me because of its book jacket, which features beautiful bird drawings. I enjoyed reading about the different stories and personalities of two sisters named "Summer"...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Aeslis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals, faery-tale, young-adult

Summer and Bird is not what I expected, but I am happier for having read it. Summer and Bird are the daughters of the swan queen, and accidentally fall into Down, the world of birds. There, they are split apart by circumstance, and younger sister Bird meets the Puppeteer, a conniving woman who seeks to overthrow the queen to become queen herself. She poisons Bird's mind and makes promises she will never keep. Meanwhile, older sister Summer meets a mysterious man that teaches her to look deeper,...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Ivy Zheng rated it 5 of 5 stars

Finally finished!!

This book is so good. Though it's only an ARC, which is short. But I still find that this book is still good.

I like Summer and Bird, But Summer is a litle stubborn, and Bird just like to sing a lot. I think Bird is like my favorite character in the book, though she left Summer alone and went off to find their parents who is gone.

It's very sad, that their parents left them at midnight and never came back when their children are very young. Having them go all the way and alone t...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

I struggled with this one for a few reasons. First, I was very distracted and ended up reading it in small snippets at night before bed. This often prevents me from really getting into the rhythm of the story; losing myself in the world the author is trying to create.

Another reason is the book's very feminine nature. A mother and her two daughter's dominate the story and it is really focused on these relationships. Much of the focus is on the complex and emotional internal lives of these girls a...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Marquina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Catmull creates an interesting world, but I felt the story lacked some depth and character development. I liked the general outline and ideas about a magical bird-run world called Down (separate from the world we live in, called Up), but felt the story had some gaps. Separately, I didn't like how the father character is utterly helpless, and that being a 'bird' or "queen" is deemed of utmost importance. I think there is a general trend for girls today to want to be 'birdlike' - frail and thin, n...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Phoebe rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, juv, juv-fantasy, fairy-tale-retelling, magic, magical-realism

This bird-themed book comes too hot on the heels of Anne Ursu's truly odd Breadcrumbs to feel very original, yet its style is far more accessible and somehow feels warmer than Ursu's book. Be warned, however, that children may very well be bored to tears and confused by turns as they wade through this 344 page tome. I was. Two little girls wake up one morning to find their parents vanished into seemingly thin air, a most terrifying beginning to a story. Thanks to a picture-letter from their moth...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Haworth Library rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-fiction

Summer and Bird wake up one morning to find their parents missing from their room. In their quest to find them they stumble upon a new world called Down. They soon find that the world is filled with birds trying to communicate with them. Soon Summer and Bird get lost and an evil Puppeteer who has also found her way into down, uses Birds ability to communicate with the birds to take over the world of down.

A dark, adventurous tale, this book will have you turning pages to find out what happens to...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Kathleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes I liked it sometimes i didn't. In the end I felt like it did nt quite work but if it had it would have been great.http://www.goodreads.com/book/s...

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About Katherine Catmull

I'm a writer and actor in Austin, TX. I also sometimes write for the Austin Chronicle, act on stage in various Austin venues, and do voice work for games like DC Universe Online (Oracle) and Wizard 101 (Myrella Windspar).

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Quotes from Summer and Bird

“But when you find your soul, you have to go. When you find your true shape, when the wind lifts you up, when you remember who you are, you have to go.” — 8 people liked it

“We never really know what might be beside us or ahead, bust most days we walk as if we do.

(from uncorrected galley)” — 5 people liked it

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Summer and Bird

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