With Just One Wing

By Brenda Woods

An adopted boy's bond with an injured bird leads to revelations about love and belonging.

4.1/5 Goodreads · 146 ratings

176 pages

$17.99Save 6%

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Bookroo's summary

Coop, an adopted boy, feels out of place in his musical family. After rescuing a one-winged mockingbird named Hop, Coop faces a tough choice when a hawk injures the bird. As he contemplates surrendering Hop to a sanctuary, Coop begins to understand his birth mother's decision in a new way. Will caring for Hop help him find his own place in the world?

From the publisher

Coretta Scott King Honor-winner Brenda Woods’s poignant, heartfelt story of an adopted boy and the bird he rescues Everyone expects Coop to be musical like his beloved parents, but he’s not. That’s one of the few things he finds awkward about being adopted–well, that and the fact that he sometimes wonders why his birth mother didn’t love him enough to keep him. This summer, he’s stuck at home with a broken arm after falling out of a tree trying to get a closer peek at a mockingbird nest. Later, when the eggs in the nest have hatched and the fledglings fly away, he and his friend Zandi notice that one of them stays behind. Taking a closer look, they realize the bird only has one wing. Since it won’t survive in the wild, they adopt it and name it Hop, and then learn everything they can about birds so they can care for Hop properly. Unfortunately, when a hawk injures Hop, the vet says it’s illegal to keep mockingbirds as pets. Faced with a difficult decision about surrendering his beloved little bird to a bird sanctuary, Coop starts thinking about his birth mother’s motivation in a new light.

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