  | Strange birds : a field guide to ruffling feathers Author: Perez, Celia C. | |
| Price: $22.38 | ||
Summary:
After Ofelia, Aster, Cat, and Lane fail to persuade a local girls club to change an outdated tradition, they form an alternative group that shakes up their sleepy Florida town. Includes tips for beginning birders, characteristics of crystals, a cookie recipe, tips for aspiring journalists, directions for creating badges, and facts about the killing of birds for fashion.
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| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 5.00 Points: 10.0 Quiz: 504216 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (07/01/19)
School Library Journal (08/01/19)
Booklist (07/01/19)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/10/19)
The Hornbook (+) (00/09/19)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 07/01/2019 Pérez follows her award-winning debut, The First Rule of Punk (2017), with a well-crafted story of friendship and activism as four rising seventh-graders form a secret club that endeavors to make a local scout troop (the Floras) stop using an unethically made feathered hat in its annual pageant. Each girl brings a unique passion and perspective to the group that plays a key role in the story’s development. Cat and Ofelia are Cuban American with very different family lives. Bird-obsessed Cat feels pressure to uphold the family tradition of participating in the Flora pageant, and Ofelia (an aspiring journalist) feels smothered by her overprotective parents. Meanwhile, Bahamian American Aster is bright but socially awkward, as a result of being homeschooled. When the girls take up Cat’s Flora protest, issues of race and class emerge, proving particularly eye-opening to white, privileged Lane. At times these conversations feel purposeful, but there’s no denying their importance. Readers will be invested in the girls’ mission, while gaining perspective on how different people’s experiences of a shared situation can be. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 08/01/2019 Gr 4–7—Lane Disanti is spending the summer with her grandmother as she tries to get used to a newly fractured family. Lane decides to create a secret club to make some friends of her own. Banking on anonymity and mystery being an enticement, she drops invitations into programming bags at the library. Three very different girls find the invitations and attend the first meeting. Ofelia Castillo is a budding 12-year-old reporter always on the hunt for the next big story. Having overprotective parents means Ofelia has little opportunity to put her sleuthing skills to good use. Aster Douglas lives with her grandpa, who homeschools her and teaches her the art of civil disobedience. She whips up culinary delights to distract her from the absence of a father who died in combat and a mother stationed in Japan. Catarina Garcia is a young ornithologist trapped by her mother's desire to see her wearing the feathery crown of the Floras, the local Scouts. The other Floras members, including her old best friend Alice, make fun of her ideas about bird preservation. The four girls learn about friendship as they grow to support one another over a common cause. This story is a wonderful look at the complex and fragile nature of friendships. Pérez skillfully examines themes of change, allowing each girl to shine, and their unique character arcs are creatively explored. VERDICT A perfect title for school and public libraries seeking realistic books about friendship.—Desiree Thomas, Worthington Library, OH - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
