Driven from her nest, Little Bird crosses paths with other migrating animals, including humans, looking for a safe place to call home.
Reading like a modern nursery rhyme, Fly Away Home begins with a family of birds launched into exile as "a troubling of hummingbirds / brings news of beyond" and "the deceit of lapwings drives its family to roam."
Author Betty Quan gives animals thought-provoking collective nouns (a charm of goldfinches, a flamboyance of flamingoes)-some real, some invented-while Akin Duzakin's simple yet suggestive illustrations spark curiosity about the characters Little Bird encounters.
On the wing, Little Bird witnesses the mass migrations of other animals: monarch butterflies, caribou, sea turtles-and human, too, including one little girl with a pink backpack. After her family finds asylum, Little Bird meets the little girl on a balcony in a new city-a safe nest for both at last.
With the world witnessing an unprecedented level of migration-for greater opportunities or because of conflicts and climate change-and over 40 million international migrants under the age of 20, Fly Away Home offers families and classrooms a hopeful entry to a complex topic.
Key Text Features
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Driven from her nest, Little Bird crosses paths with other migrating animals, including humans, looking for a safe place to call home.
• DEMAND FOR IMMIGRATION STORIES: With the growing number of migrants each year, there is increasing demand for stories about immigration, refugees and adjusting to a new home. For fans of previous Groundwood titles like Two White Rabbits and Alone, Fly Away Home is lyrical, tender and bright.
• AWARD-WINNING CREATORS: Betty Quan's debut picture book, Grandmother's Visit (Groundwood Books; 2018) was the winner of the 2019 APALA for Picture Books. Illustrator Akin Duzakin's work in What The Kite Saw (Groundwood; 2021) was commended by the Bank Street College of Education's annual Best Children's Books of the Year list in 2022.
• MIGRATION IS UNIVERSAL: More and more people are migrating across the planet every year, with the United Nations estimating the global number of migrants at 304 million and the global number of refugees at nearly 44 million in 2024. In Fly Away Home, the congruity of migration across all species, and the complex reasons why someone or something might choose to migrate, are examined with a hopeful tone.
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