Why read My Beautiful Birds?

Book cover of My Beautiful Birds

Book description

A New York Times Notable Children's Books selection. The moving story of one boy's refugee experience in the Syrian Civil War and the birds who help him on the road to emotional healing

Behind Sami, the Syrian skyline is full of smoke. The boy follows his family and all his…

Explore

Topics

Genres

Coming soon!

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked My Beautiful Birds as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Anne Laurel Carter

Author

The Syrian refugee crisis is the largest in the world, with over 12 million displaced people. As an elementary school librarian in a diverse city, I would have loved to read this book to every class. I appreciated that the story wasn’t violent yet managed to show what the boy and his family had to escape. I think any aged child from any background could care about this Syrian boy as I did.

Told in first person, the boy misses and worries about the pigeons he raised as his family flees their town (bombed in the distance). I was struck…

From Anne's list on picture books on war for young and old from playful to serious.