New Voice: Crystal Chan on Bird

Curriculum GuideBy Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Crystal Chan is the first-time author of Bird (Atheneum, 2014). From the promotional copy:

It’s only natural to have silence and secrets in your family when you’re born on the same day that your brother died. At least, that’s sure what it seems like for twelve-year old Jewel.

Add to that the fact that you’re the only mixed-race family in your rural Iowan town, and well, life can get kind of lonely sometimes. But when a boy named John moves...