Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Birdland
by
Tracy Mack
A Greenwich Village teen finds new meaning in jazz and poetry as he struggles with the earth-shattering loss of his older brother in this acclaimed novel's paperback debut.
Amid the sparkle and hum of a New York City winter, Jed and his best friend, Flyer, are filming a documentary about their neighborhood. But what Jed is really in search of is his big brother, Zeke, an in...more
Amid the sparkle and hum of a New York City winter, Jed and his best friend, Flyer, are filming a documentary about their neighborhood. But what Jed is really in search of is his big brother, Zeke, an in...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
August 1st 2005
by Scholastic Paperbacks
(first published 2003)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
121)
Jed Diamond is a young, and depressed teen. He has a speech problem and he stutters when he talks. When he tries talking he speaks no more than 3 or 4 words. He can barely put syllabals together to form a word. He wasn't always like this until a tragedy occurred. His poetic older brother Zeke died. Jed and his rebel best friend Flyer were assinged,by their teacher, to film a documentary of their neighborhood. They visited many places but not the usual attractions people travel to new york city t...more
This is a book packed with issues. Boy whose older brother died from diabetic shock after drinking half a bottle of vodka. Was is suicide? It's a year and a bit after the 9/11 attacks and the city is still rebuilding after that. A homeless girl who cuts herself... We are looking for a book with a Jewish main character that doesn't deal with the holocaust, just normal life issues. This is a great book, but might be too full of stuff to unpack for the sixth grade curriculum we are trying to build.
Emery sent me this book for Christmas (and I didn't get it until weeks later, because God forbid I ever check the mail) and I just got around to reading it during the show on Friday night. Well, it was amazing. Seriously. I read it in about two hours. I enjoyed the story of the whole family coping with Zeke's death. I didn't really understand the connection (if there was one) between Kiki & everything though, except that she was using Zeke's stuff. Anyway, I really enjoyed it.
Jul 26, 2011
Ron Arden
added it
Enjoyable story about a boy and how he and his family deals with the death of his brother. Joseph Diamond and his friend Flyer make a documentary of thier east village (NYC) neighborhood for a school project over winter break. Jospeh or Jed meet a great group of people including a homeless girl who helps him understand more about Jed's brother Zeke. The imagery is very realistic and puts you right in the city. Zeke is a big fan of Charlie Parker and Jed begins to understand his brother through B...more
I found this to be a very moving book about relationships. I enjoyed the way the explanations came a little bit at time, it really felt like the information was being pulled out of Jed who didn't want to let go. Every character in the book deals with loss in a different way and learning with Jed that all of those ways are okay but that you also need to speak up if you need support. Theo with the toy ambulance broke my heart.
Again, I listened to this last year before moving, while commuting. I enjoyed it since it was a little older (YA)than my usual elementary selection (and not appropriate for an elementary library). It had a homeless girl who was a cutter, and almost died (suicide?). But the main story was about a boy hoping to learn more about his brother.
I've been looking at this one for four years in my library and never realized it's really a winter holiday story. Jed and his friend Flyer manage to create the perfect video elegy for Jed's brother while filming their New York City neighborhood for a class project. This story is so rich; it deserves a more compelling cover.
Kid films his neighborhood for school project while coming to grips with brother’s death. Gritty voice… pretty interesting. Saves homeless, free- spirit girl and in process comes together with father, who’s been distant. Family relationships, dealing with grief in different ways.
The book is about a boy, and a family, trying to cope with the loss of a sibling. How we can help ourselves by helping others. It's very nicely done.
Interesting story about a young man whose brother died of complications due to juvenile diabetes and how it affected the whole family.
Good story about family dynamics and reaching out to others. I enjoyed it.
hot my cupa
So, so beautiful.
This one of my favorite New Yorker books. A truly stunning novel. The gritty, lean, prose and excellent characters make Birdland an extraordinary book.
Audiobook.
Same narrator as Heartbreaking work of staggering genius...which threw me off at first, but I tried hard to look or listen past it to hear the rest of the story.
Same narrator as Heartbreaking work of staggering genius...which threw me off at first, but I tried hard to look or listen past it to hear the rest of the story.
A novella that reads like a jazz sonata; sweet, moody and multi-directional: a kid's ode to his late older brother.
Feb 10, 2013
Gabriella Farinelli
marked it as to-read
Jan 16, 2013
Cullen Pitney
added it
Dec 31, 2012
Dudhdh
added it
Dec 27, 2012
Bria
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Tracy Mack's first novel, Drawing Lessons, was named a Booklist Top Ten First Bovel for Young Adults, a New York Public Llibrary Book for the Teen Age, a Bank Street College Best Book and a Teen People Next Award Finalist. Birdland, her second novel, garnered praise from Walter Dean Myers, Mary Pope Osborne and Julia Alvarez.
Tracy grew up in a one-square-mile village near the Hudson River, just no...more
More about Tracy Mack...
Tracy grew up in a one-square-mile village near the Hudson River, just no...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
