someday Birds

Reviewed by: Kathy George - Gray publlic Library, Gray, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: July 11, 2017

Review

Charlie's world is orderly, structured and controlled. Now, however, his world is chaotic, and out of control.His dad has suffered a brain injury while working as a journalist in Afghanistan and is being transferred from the VA hospital in California to a facility in Virginia. He and his siblings are to stay while their grandmother makes the trip with dad. Not wanting to be left, Charlie's teenage sister asks her boyfriend to drive her, Charlie and his younger twin brothers cross country to join their father. You know this is not going to end well, especially for a boy like Charlie. What keeps him going is the notion that if he can spot all the birds on a list that he and his father have compiled, everything will by okay. This is the story of a family struggling to hold onto some sort of normal and of a boy struggling to keep his world in tack and eventually realizing that life is messy and will not be controlled. Readers will laugh and cry as Charlie navigates this chaos. He and his family grow as individuals and as a family in this most satisfying story. If you enjoyed Counting by 7's and Fish in a Tree, make this your next read.

Overall Book Score: excellent