Flip the Bird

Fourteen-year-old Mercer Buddie is a falconer-in-training wanting desperately to earn the Best Apprentice pin and prove himself to his father at the same time. Mercer's father, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist, runs the Buddie Bird Rehab Center. On their way out on a trapping expedition, Mercer happens to meet a girl in the pet store and is instantly smitten. She's the prettiest girl he's ever seen: gorgeous green eyes and "elbow-length hair the white-blond color of candlelight." The trouble is, Lucy and her parents are members of HALT, a fanatical animal rights organization opposing mistreatment of animals, including the caging of hawks. Can a white boy in love with raptors fall in love with a girl who opposes everything he stands for? It's a Romeo and Juliet-style quandary that turns ugly when members of HALT vandalize the Buddies' rehabilitation center and release the birds. Mercer must take responsibility, do what's right, and decide what is most important to him in life. Brunner writes an impassioned story with real-life moral dilemmas. Abundant details of falconry, the result of the author's own falconry apprentice lessons (as explained in the acknowledgments), root the story solidly in a fascinating world new to most readers. An engaging story of a young teen finding what's most important in his life. (Fiction. 10-14) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-Scoot over, Don Calame-Brunner is about to join you on your perch. This is not a book for the squeamish. It's about falconry at its finest, but it is also about much more than that. On his way to capture his first hawk, Mercer Buddie meets the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, she is also the daughter of pro-animal activists. Mercer must come to terms with who he is, who he wants to be, and the belief systems he wishes to espouse and reconcile those with his desire to be with a hot girl. The humor is bawdy, though not quite as ribald as Calame's, and the accounts of hunting and dispatching prey are as honest as the descriptions of what happens when animal rights extremists "save" animals from humans. Brunner also introduces the issue of animal research and why adorable canines may just be the answer to human cardiac conditions. Readers will think deeply about their beliefs and why they hold those values right along with the protagonist. The puns, including Mercer's decision to name his red-tailed hawk Flip, keep an otherwise heavy subject from becoming too grisly. Lovers of Sterling North's Rascal, Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf, and Calame's Dan Versus Nature will flock to this tale about a teen and his hawk. VERDICT Get multiple copies for nature-loving reluctant readers.-Jodeana Kruse, R. A. Long High School, Longview, WA

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