The Bird in Me Flies (Graphic Novel)
What's This Book About
What do you do when it feels impossible to live up to everything expected of you? When the only person who understands you disappears? When you are young and long for something that seems out of reach? Berta dreams of being an artist, but as a girl growing up in a small Swedish farming village in the 1920s, she has little hope. She finds solace in nature, and in drawing and shaping birds from clay for her mother, the only person who seems to truly understand her. When her mother succumbs to tuberculosis, Berta feels alone, in despair and even more burdened by all the work on the farm. Can she find the courage to defy her father and the social conventions of her time, and fly free? This beautifully illustrated novel in verse, inspired by the paintings, letters and diaries of Swedish artist Berta Hansson (1910-1994), is a universal story of grief, longing and following your dreams. Includes an afterword by journalist Alexandra Sundqvist.
What Kind of Book is The Bird in Me Flies (Graphic Novel)
Reviews
A lovely (based on a true) story about a little girl who longs to get away from her life on the farm to follow her true passion—art—and how she makes it a reality. This is definitely on the mature side for picture books—it's long and deals with some serious subjects such as sickness (tuberculosis) and death (of her mother), but is well worth a read for older audiences.
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The Creatives Behind the Book
Sara Lundberg studied at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. She was a painter before she began to focus on picture books. She won the August Prize, Sweden’s highest literary honor, for the original edition of this book, among other awards. In addition to authoring several titles, she has illustrated more than thirty children’s books, including Skriv om och om igen, another August Prize winner. Sara lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781773062600
- Publication Date
- August 4, 2020
- Publisher
- Groundwood Books
- Original Publication Date
- January 1, 2017
- Page Count
- 120
- Word Count
- 2850
- Audience
- Juvenile Reader
- Reading Age
- 9 - 12 years
- WorldCat Number (OCLC)
- 1110702650
- Lexile® Level
- 600L
- Est. Fountas & Pinnell Level
- ~O
- Est. ATOS® Book Level
- ~3.9
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