Broken Beaks by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer illustrated by Robert Ingpen

"Then, one morning the young sparrow awoke to discover that his beak had broken while he slept. It does not happen often, but sometime a sparrow's beak will break. No one knows how or why it happens. It just does."

Now it is so difficult for the young sparrow to pick up crumbs dropped by people at the cafe. Sadly, the other sparrow are either frightened of him, or suspicious of him while others are sure someone else will help the young sparrow. The people are no better. To their eyes this bird looks dirty and ugly. 

Luckily along comes a compassionate stranger - a homeless man. 

"He was thin and dirty. He had a bushy beard and long scraggly hair, and he talked to himself. The sparrow could tell from his voice that he was sad and lonely."

"Looking closely at the stranger, the young sparrow realised that they were alike. He somehow knew that the stranger also had a broken beak- only his beak was on the inside, where you couldn't see it. ... Like the sparrow, the stranger couldn't help that his beak was broken."

Now go back and think about the title - broken beaks. The bird has a broken beak and so does the man but readers should also think about the reactions of others (bird and human) - how we view others who are different, or who need compassion. 

The final scene in this book is sure to break your heart. This book has a personal connection with the author. 

Blurb: A beautiful story about a friendship between a small sparrow and a homeless man. Readers of all ages will be moved by this powerful narrative, which highlights the heroism and dignity of people with mental illness. Beautiful full colour illustrations drawn with depth and insight by former Hans Christian Andersen Medalist Robert Ingpen. 

Broken Beaks is long out of print and I think it might be very hard to find. IF you do have a copy it is now very valuable. I have seen copies listed between AU$90 and AU$150.

When I was a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) judge we read Crumbs by Phil Cummings illustrated by Shane Deveries. One of the judges in my category (Picture book of the Year) linked Crumbs with Broken Beaks (2003 and out of print). I love making connections between texts, but I had no idea about Broken Beaks. I was so thrilled to find this book in the school library I visit each week. What an extraordinary wealth of books this library holds. I continue to be so amazed and excited by the books I discover. 

Crumbs by Phil Cummings illustrated by Shane Devries

A young girl and her dad have had a busy morning shopping and now they plan to eat lunch at some outdoor seating. While the girl waits for her dad to collect their lunch from the take-away counter Ella sees a little bird with only one leg. He is hopping around looking for crumbs but the people on the busy street either ignore the tiny creature or worse the shout or growl. At the same time Ella sees a man - read these heartfelt words by Phil Cummings:

"A man with prickle whiskers, wild hair and his life in a bag on his back came weaving through the flow of the crowd. ... Ella watched as the man sat and hung his head. His laden shoulders slumped like the broken wings of a storm-weary bird."

This man clearly has nothing but in a beautiful moment, when the sparrow hops over close to the man looking for crumbs, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crumpled bag. He pours crumbs onto his palm and the tiny bird hops up and gently (a perfect choice of word) eats the cumbs.

Ella's father has also seen the man and so, when he has collected their lunch, he walks across to the man, stretches out his hand and then leads the man over to their table to share their meal. 

This is a reassuring and compassionate story. The message in this book is clear but not heavy handed and the simple act of sharing lunch with a stranger will give readers room to imagine what might happen next.

The bird and the man both need food, and they are both obviously hungry and desperate, but the text has a quietness somehow, rather like the soft fog that surrounds the people in the street. The father and daughter clearly also have a very special relationship. 

The text is spare but filled with meaning such as when the father smiles kindly and then simply helps the man over to their table. So little is said but so much is implied.  I like the way Shane Devries gives the reader a different perspective as we look down on to the scene seeing the same view as the little bird. There are some exquisite phrases in this book – “a morsel was its gold”; “his life in a bag on his back”; “a smile shone from the deep shadows of his prickle-bush whiskers”. In the final illustration you can see Ella has given the man her scarf – a gesture which then gives the green spots on the end papers a much deeper significance. 

The colour palette used in this book conveys a sense of cold and bleakness which is essential to the overall impact of the story – we need to feel the cold ourselves, to understand the full desperation of the bird and the man. The cold colour backdrop also acts as a visual metaphor for human ignorance that the man and bird contend with every day. 

Crumbs was a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) 2023 Notable title. I was a 2023 judge. We had over 200 books entered for this round of the award. Only 25 can reach the Notable list, then six on the short list and just one week ago the 2023 winners were announced. Check out my posts about My Strange Shrinking Parents; Paradise Sands; and Dirt by Sea. 

Companion books:

The Invisible

I saw Pete and Pete saw me

The Old Man

I have not read this book illustrated by our IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Robert Ingpen but a couple of readers have mentioned the link with Crumbs.

Shane Devries has illustrated another book by Phil Cummings - Boy. This book has been added to the prestigious IBBY Collection for Young People with Disabilities. 

I have happy memories of Phil Cummings visiting my rural school library in about 1989 just after he released his book Goodness Gracious (illustrated by Craig Smith). That book was a terrific one to read aloud to Kindy. I also loved sharing and recommending Marty and Mei Ling (illustrated by Craig Smith). This still is the PERFECT book to share during Harmony week here in Australia.

Subway Sparrow by Leyla Torres

This is an obscure old (1997) book but the art is so brilliant I just needed to share it here. I am amazed to discover it might still be available.

"Moja apaszka'. 'Yeah, cover him with the scarf!' 'Si Cubramoslo'. 'Hurry, I'll pick him up."

A young girl is sitting in the subway train when a small sparrow flies in the door. In the carriage there is a man who speaks Spanish and a lady who speaks Polish. Somehow the girl, who only speaks English, needs to ask these people to help her catch the bird, gently, and then carry it off the train and set it free.

There is no translation of the dialogue in Spanish and Polish but somehow it is easy to understand that everyone has a common goal of helping this small, helpless bird, to escape from the train, to find freedom and blue skies.

Torres's first picture book ...  is a charming multicultural vignette. Kirkus

I am not going to say this is an essential purchase for a library or home collection but if you do stumble upon this book, as I did, I am certain you will enjoy the gentle story which captures a tiny moment in time and the small but important actions of a group of people on a train. The tiny moment in time idea reminds me of the special books by Bob Graham such as Silver Buttons; How the Sun got to Coco's House; Vanilla Icecream; and Home in the Rain. Here is a video of the whole book. Take a look so you can see the fabulous illustration of shoes worn by a boy on the train. 

I have read a few other books about subways recently:

I am the Subway

The man with the Violin

Milo Imagines the World

IBBY Honour list 2018

Here are some other books by Leyla Torres:

Fly by Jess McGeachin

My walk in the sunshine today (a Sunday) was disturbed by the sounds of things flying in the air. In just an hour I counted 5 helicopters, 4 small planes, 2 jets and a amazingly a paraplane. All of these were so noisy unlike the beautiful birds who also shared the sky.

Paraplane image source: https://www.easyflight.com/

I guess people have always been fascinated by flight but since we are not birds our flying machines need engines and these engines are so noisy. I was thinking about this as I walked and then I came home and read debut picture book Fly by Jess McGeachin.

Jess himself says:
While the story is fiction, I wanted the reader to be able to learn about amazing birds that exist in our world.

On one level, yes,  this is a book about birds. Lucy finds a tiny bird - a sparrow - with a broken wing. She is determined to help him fly. We already know Lucy is good at "fixing things".  She lives with her Dad. "It was just the two of them ... "

Dad explains the sparrow has a broken wing. "He won't be able to fly again."

Lucy does not agree. She is determined her little friend Flap will fly again so she draws up elaborate plans and builds an aeroplane. The pair take off into the sky and for a while they fly along happily. Flap sits safely in the back seat and it is lovely to know he can "feel the wind in his feathers again." Sadly the flight does not last long. The plane begins to disintegrate and plummet back to earth.

I'm going to pause here because at this point I would stop reading this book and allow the children to make their  predictions. When I read this book at the CBCA National Conference several months ago the image on the next page made me gasp.

Image Source: https://drawthemoon.com/fly

This book has so many layers.  It is a book about problem solving, inventions, flight, birds, determination, kindness and the power of imagination. On a deeper level it is also a book about grief, healing and relationships.

Here are some questions you could use to explore the deeper themes in this book:

• How do we know mum is absent? What might have happened to Lucy's mum?  Why didn't the author give us any specific details about this? 
• What are some ways Lucy tries to help her dad? (look closely at the illustrations)
• Lucy spends one weekend and a few afternoons making her flying machine - what does this tell you? Does it matter that this is not really possible?
• The back cover says "Not everything that is broken can be fixed."  What do you think the author means by this statement? How does the story demonstrate this idea.
• Talk about Flap.  What do you think the words "But then he was gone" might mean?
• On the last page Jess McGeachin says "it's probably best not to build a plane unless you really know what you're doing."  Do you think he really needed to include these words? Do you think they were his idea or were added by the publisher? Talk about this picture from Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten. The US publisher of this book was concerned children might climb onto roofs. What is your opinion?

I've read a few reviews of Fly and they all seem to focus on different aspects of this story. I like this because it shows this book is open to many interpretations.  The suggested audience for this book generally seems to be ages 5-8 but I would suggest it will also appeal to an older primary group because it contains so many unanswered questions along side the deeper themes of grief and healing.

Take less than a minute to watch the book trailer from Penguin. It is perfect. You can also see some pages from Fly here.

Reviews:
Reading Time
The Bottom Shelf
Better Reading

Fly will surely be included in the CBCA awards for 2020 - yes it is that good! Over the coming months I hope to read a selection of Australian picture books published in 2019 with a view to making predictions about these award.

I would pair this book with How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham;  Pete and Roland by Bob Graham;  Kate, who tamed the Wind by Liz Garton Scanlon and Gary by Leila Rudge. I would also read one of my favourite books Herbert Binns and the Flying Tricycle although this book is sadly long out of print. You could also compare Fly with The Storm Whale by Benji Davies and A Wish for Wings that work by Berkeley Breathed.