Birdsong

Birdsong by Julie Flett(Greystone Kids, 2019)Good to Read for:encouraging independencedeveloping curiosity about the worlddiversifying your child’s bookshelfLast week, I recommended The Frank Show, starring Frank, who becomes a hit with his grandson’s classmates. This week’s pick features another intergenerational friendship: the ‘emotionally stunning’ Birdsong, by Cree-Métis writer and artist Julie Flett.

Birdsong describes the growing friendship ‘between two neighbors, an older artist named Agnes, and a young girl, Katherena, told from the child’s point of view.’ 

The story begins in Spring. Katherena is seen looking out her window on a ‘mucky’ morning. It’s moving day, and Katherena feels anxious. The gloomy, rainy morning helps convey her sense of sadness:

 

I’m going to miss my friends and cousins and aunties and uncles. I’m going to miss my bedroom window and the tree outside.

“Goodbye, tree friend,” I whisper.

 

From the illustration, we see that it’s just Katherena, her mother and her dog who are moving house. Their new home sits in a field ‘covered in snowdrops’ and ‘has two trees outside’. (Upgrade!)

   

Unfortunately, the move dampens Katherena’s creative spirit. Her hands, the text tells us, are cold, and she doesn’t feel like drawing. Instead, she bundles up in a warm bed with her mother – ‘in our new home in the country, far from the sea.’

In each of the headered, double spreads that divide Birdsong into seasons, Katherena is shown sprawled on the floor, drawing. It’s a neat way to show the passing of time while also depicting Katherena, the artist. (As an artistic child herself, Flett spent hours drawing and making things.) 

   

Summer arrives. 

 

Our new home hums with peeps and whistles and ribbits and chirps.

 

I love that line! It’s so evocative of the season and suggestive of how Katherena’s feeling more settled and looking to the future.

 

I watch Agnes, our neighbor, working on something in her yard.

“Why don’t you visit her, Katherena?” my mom says.

I nod. “Okay.”

I take our dog, Ôhô, with me.

Ôhô means owl in Cree.

 

As with Flett’s picture book for young readers, We All Play, Flett’s sprinkling of Cree words feels entirely natural. Their inclusion is not forced. It’s seamless and without agenda. 

“The Cree words that I used in the book came organically to the story,” explains Flett (a Cree-Métis artist) in an interview with Kirkus Reviews. “It was natural to the conversations between Katherena and Agnes.” 

It makes for believable characters. But there’s a more profound significance to the inclusion of Katherena as a Cree-Métis character:

It’s essential for all kids – including indigenous children – to see themselves represented in kids’ books.

It broadens your child’s view of the world.

Inclusivity – diversity – within picture books creates a connection between children from different cultures and backgrounds. This feels even more appropriate with Birdsong, which is all about relationships - between generations, within families, with nature and the changing seasons. 

   

The introduction between Agnes and Katherena is tender and retains some awkwardness that makes it feel believable. (Katherena stands with her hands behind her back.) Agnes has learnt from Katherena’s mother that she likes to draw. Agnes herself ‘loves to make things out of clay’, and these kindred spirits quickly connect. Meeting and befriending Agnes is the spark Katherena needs to reignite her creativity. (After their initial afternoon together, Katherena ‘can’t wait to go home and start drawing.’)

For both Katherena and Agnes, their art helps them explore and respond to the world, and it’s something they bond over. Their friendship grows as Katherena visits Agness again and again. Come fall, she’s helping Agnes in the garden, ‘gathering extra leaves that’ll get mixed into the soil. The worms love this.’

   

Flett drops a clue as to where this is leading –

 

It’s getting cold and windy and creaky.

Agnes says she’s getting creaky too.

 

Inside, Agnes shows Katherena what she’s working on – ‘a pot that’s round and bright.’

 

She tells me about waxing and waning moons.

I tell her about Cree seasons. This month is called pimihâwipîsim – the migrating moon.

 

(You’ll find a handy glossary of the Cree words – with a pronunciation guide – at the start of the book.)

   

Winter brings Ôhô’s first snow. Katherena and her mother make a salmon stew to share with Agnes, strengthening Flett’s theme of community and friendship. In return, Katherena is sent home ‘with a cup full of snowdrop bulbs to plant in the field next autumn.’

 

They look like tiny moons.

They give me more ideas for pictures.

 

A whole year passes, and the snowdrops are in flower again. But ‘Agnes has grown weaker over the winter.’

Katherena sits on her frail friend’s bed. They listen together to the spring song of birds outside and ‘the tickle of branches against [the] window.’

Suddenly Katherena has an idea and rushes home to gather up her drawings. With help from Agnes’s daughter (who came to stay for a while), Katherena brings the Spring inside to Agnes by covering her bedroom walls with drawings. 

   

When we’re done, Agnes says it’s like a poem for her heart.

Then I sit with Agnes and talk about making things:

Mucky things and things with string and song

And paper and words. And then we sit quietly together, on Agnes’s bed, until it’s time to say goodbye.

I leave with an ache in my heart, but I’m so glad to know Agnes.

 

The ending is sensitive and age-appropriate. It’s a beautiful scene of Katherena’s home at night, under ‘ayîkipîsm, the frog moon’. There’s nothing explicit to say that Agnes has died. But it’s implied in the concluding line, which also affirms Katherena’s emotional journey:

 

My hands feel warm and the covers feel soft,

And I think of my friend until I fall asleep.

   Death might seem a strange topic for a picture book to touch upon.

And it’s true, there aren’t a vast number out there. Those that do exist invariably feature a grandparent who ultimately meets their demise. (Last week, I noted that The Frank Show was significant in its portrayal of the grandad Frank because he lives to spin a yarn another day!) But death surrounds us – our children included – and is something that we all have to face. (To quote Bruce Springsteen, “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.”) So picture books like Birdsong that depict the cycle of life and handle the theme with sensitivity are a valuable tool for parents.

Birdsong is about many things. Love. Art. Friendship and community. The changing seasons. Ageing and loss. Life and death. One GoodReads reviewer bemoaned Birdsong for being “too heavy for what I want in a picture book.” (Which is a shame – because he’s missing the point of Flett’s story and picture books in general.) I guess if all you’re after is a light-hearted, crash-bang-wallop story with a bit of toilet humour thrown in for good measure, then it’s definitely not the book for you.

Birdsong is, however, an excellent choice if you’re after a gentle, meaningful story to spark conversation with your child and expand your child’s understanding of the world.

Agnes sees Katherena as an equal. In that sense, theirs is a true friendship (so tenderly portrayed by beautiful prose and illustrations) that cuts across the generations. Age is no barrier to these kindred spirits. And it’s their intergenerational friendship that makes this book unique and a particularly poignant story for grandparents to share with their grandkids.

STORIES WORTH SHARINGBirdsong by Julie Flett(Greystone Kids, 2019)Good to Read for:encouraging independencedeveloping curiosity about the worlddiversifying your child’s bookshelfBirdsong by Julie Flett (Greystone Kids, 2019) | Text and illustrations © 2019 by Julie FlettGOOD TO READIntergenerational Friendships

The Green Ship by Quentin Blake

Granpa by John Burningham

My Uncle is a Hunkle says Clarice Bean by Lauren Child

Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies

King of the Sky by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin

Birdsong by Julie Flett

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 “My daughter and I were enchanted by the simplicity and sweetness of the story.”– Lindsey, GoodReads

“Beautifully portrays [how] human connections are strengthened through love of art and nature.”– The Horn Book Magazine Buy US Buy UK * I EARN COMMISSION FROM THESE LINKS #AD/AFFRELATED ARTICLES

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SOURCESBirdsong by Julie Flett (Greystone Kids, 2019)https://www.artofthepicturebook.com/-check-in-with/2021/3/30/an-interview-with-julie-fletthttps://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/46015798-birdsonghttps://www.artofthepicturebook.com/-check-in-with/2021/3/30/an-interview-with-julie-fletthttps://forum.teachingbooks.net/2019/12/guest-blogger-julie-flett/https://wakingbraincells.com/2019/12/03/review-birdsong-by-julie-flett/Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group© 2022 BY TIM WARNES(UNLESS OTHERWISE ATTRIBUTED)****USE OF THIRD PARTY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FALLS UNDER FAIR USE/FAIR DEALING PRACTICE.