FIRST THERE WAS BIRD

A lost bird and new neighbors help a community move past prejudice in High’s illustrated middle-grade book.

Eleven-year-old Magnolia Cooper isn’t looking forward to spending her summer in Murdock, Mississippi, working part-time at her mom’s beauty salon. Magnolia doesn’t understand her mother’s interest in external beauty, although she comes from a long line of baby beauty pageant contestants. The tween has been struggling to connect with anyone at all, since her dad died four years ago and her best friend, Emma, moved away in December. Things get worse when her cockatiel, Third Bird, escapes his cage and goes missing. Magnolia, who hasn’t yet found the courage to visit her father’s grave, begins searching the city for her missing pet, a gift from her father. When she and her grandmother get into a car accident while looking for Third Bird, her new neighbors—Violet and her 12-year-old grandson, Jeremiah—pull over to help out. Magnolia realizes that Jeremiah’s dad is also deceased, so the two quickly bond. As they search together, the two meet other residents who are happy to assist and share their own stories. They include a man named Eli Whitney, who’s in jail for drunk driving; Rocky, an androgynous employee at Kraemer’s Feed Mill; and Polly, a military veteran and wheelchair user who owns Polly’s Precious Pets. With Jeremiah, who’s Black, guiding her, Magnolia, who’s white, learns more about her community and specifically how prejudice affects the people who live in it. The large cast of characters in High’s book results in a series of scenes that touch on important issues only briefly and without much depth; the dialogue can also be overly explanatory at times. However, the book does provide an excellent introduction to the different ways in which bigotry can affect small communities, and young readers are likely to enjoy the quick pace and quirky personalities. They’ll also likely appreciate Trinidad’s occasional grayscale cartoon illustrations, which portray various characters and scenes that appear throughout the novel.

A heartfelt, ambitious, and often charming story with a significant emotional punch.