Barnes & NobleRare Birds by Jeff Miller

A read with heart, adventure, and tears

While weighing on the heavier end of a boy's life, a sense of adventure, friendship, and hope make it a read which shines. Graham has been moving around the country with his mother in search of a remedy to her failing heart. When the shortest transplant list has them landing back in his mother's hometown in Florida, Graham tries to make the best of it, especially when he learns that a rare bird, which his mother has always hoped to find, has been spotted. Better yet, a picture with it might win him $5000. With new found friends, who suffer problems of their own, he heads out into the swamps and finds more than he thought he would. This tale circles around the difficult theme of having a parent in a year-long health battle, which threatens with losing them completely. But it also adds other tough topics such as bullying, divorce, and loss of a close friend. So, there are many heavier moments, which pull at the heart. For this reason, and the fact that the characters are, at times, mature for their age, I do recommend this for the upper end of the middle grade audience and even into the lower young adult range. Considering the darker atmosphere on the emotional end, the author still manages to build a grabbing adventure with all the tension, hopes, and struggles that come with it (watch out for killer crocodiles!). While Graham struggles with the situation of his mother's bad health, he's in a relatively good place emotionally. His openness to the world around him is inspiring, and yet, he's not overly embracing, either. He's the kind of character, which makes an amazing best friend...and he gets exactly that type of friendship back. The author has also weaved in tons of bird facts and a little information about the swamps in Florida. It does make the perfect setting and settles right in with the rich characters. There's also room for adventure, reminding a tinsy-tiny bit of the fun of Huckleberry Finn (miniscule), and well-planned mirroring between the 'action side' and the heavier themes the characters have to deal with. In other words, it's very well written and will be a treat for the right reader. I received a complimentary copy and was surprised how much this one pulls in.