A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe

 

Stars: 5 for being the kind of book that is a mirror and a sliding glass door.

My Thoughts:

This middle grade mixed voices, mixed form collection is definitely a mirror and a sliding glass door dedicated to the young people who had to shoulder the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in New York, but really across the United States.  In my own little bubble in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it was easy to be in my own bubble, but I was also watching my own students on Zoom disappearing behind shut cameras, closed doors, muted mics because they were also in charge of their younger siblings, etc. 

Although my husband and I had jobs, and mine was doable online and at home, our own adult children were having to make money delivering door dash and monitoring their own children's education at home. We were lucky that no one in our family got sick and/or died because my adult children have asthma or immuno-compromised diseases like lupus. Still this piece, taking place in a large, overcrowded city like New York where some young adults have lost both of their parents is chilling and heart breaking. This artwork of a novel brought all the feelings of helplessness and isolation back.  This historical fiction book (yes, they are middle grades, this is already historical for them) will remind readers to hold on tight to their friends, to their freedom to wander, as well as their freedom to gather together. The prose is lyrical and heart breaking. 

Pair this with other multi voiced middle grade books like the multi author anthology On the Block: Stories of Home edited by Ellen Oh,  and/or Recognize: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life edited by Wayde and Cheryl Wilson.

From the Publisher:

Grief, pain, hope, and love collide in this short story collection.

In New York City, teens, their families, and their communities feel the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the fear and loss, these teens and the adults around them persevere with love and hope while living in difficult circumstances:

• Malachi writes an Armageddon short story inspired by his pandemic reality.
• Tariq helps their ailing grandmother survive during quarantine.
• Zamira struggles with depression and loneliness after losing her parents.
• Mohamed tries to help keep his community spirit alive.
• A social worker reflects on the ways the foster system fails their children.

From award-winning author Mahogany L. Browne comes a poignant collection of interconnected prose, poems, and lists about the humanity and resilience of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publication Information:

Author: Mahogany L. Browne

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers (March 11, 2025)

Print length: 153 pages

Ain't Burned All the Bright

 

My Thoughts:

This is a long disjointed poem, but it is not a novel in verse. It is just one long story where the art and the placement of words on the page are just as important as the pages with no words. 

"In through the nose. . .out through the mouth" That is how this book needs to be read, in through the nose, out through the mouth. The way certain lines and words repeat is so effective in the rhythm of this that as a reader it's hard to not also be an orator. It's difficult to not end up reading this out loud. Even when I wanted to stop reading out loud, I couldn't. 

This is an immersive experience of one black family's experience during this 2020 pandemic from the eyes of one of the kids/teens. The inside jacket calls this a heartbreaking-heartmaking manifesto and perhaps the double page spread image that most exemplifies that is the one with a male standing on the bottom corner of the left page facing the upper corner of the right page with his right hand up in a fist and a long shadow in front of him. Perhaps because I just read the memoir Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice about the Olympic protest on the medal platform by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, this image with the words is so powerful:

ain't nothin but a fist with a face that looks like mine

I'm definitely giving this book away. I just have to figure out who will be able to find the student that needs this book. This book is profound. The art and words remind me of the picture book illustration styling of Harlem by Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers. It is a heavy book and a heavy subject. This is definitely a book you need to buy and own and come back to.

From the Publisher:

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is. 

Author: Jason Reynolds

Illustrator: Jason Griffin

Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Diouhy Books

Publication date: January 11, 2022