The Someday Birds

Starred review from November 7, 2016
Charlie feels safest at home in California, where his family tolerates his obsessive rituals and fascination with birds. But home isn’t the same without his journalist father, who is far away in Virginia
being treated for a brain injury he incurred in Afghanistan. Charlie hates change and travel, but in order to see his father, he’s willing to endure a cross-country road trip with his twin brothers, boy-crazy older sister, and a pink-haired woman from Sarajevo serving as their chaperone. Both eye-opening and revealing, Pla’s debut novel showcases some of America’s greatest landmarks while tracing a fearful boy’s gradual emergence from his shell as he learns to trust strangers and try new things. Through Charlie’s perspective (it’s implied, though not stated outright, that he has OCD and is on the autism spectrum), readers encounter many natural wonders (including several birds, shown in postcardlike images from McLaughlin), meet fascinating characters, and learn about the connection between the children’s chaperone and their father. Offering a mixture of suspense, mystery, tragedy and humor, Pla’s story captures both the literal and figurative meanings of journey. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Taylor Martindale Kean, Full Circle Literary.

November 1, 2016
While serving as a journalist in Afghanistan, a widowed father of four is injured, leaving him hospitalized and his children without a parent.Though the siblings share the same light-brown skin and dark hair their Mexican mother had, each faces the uncertain future differently. Twelve-year-old Charlie loses himself in his obsession with birds and his OCD rituals. Fifteen-year-old Davis finds solace in her quest for romance. Joel and Jake, 10-year-old twins, distract themselves with video games and wild antics. But when their one link to normalcy, their white grandmother, must accompany their father across the country to Virginia for additional medical treatment, the four are lost. Davis organizes a road trip to see their father, but that is quickly derailed by a car accident. Then Ludmila, the mysterious Russian stranger who has been keeping a bedside vigil with their father, shows up and whisks them on a cross-country trip that changes everything. Pla's debut is an achingly real portrait of a family living in the in-between place of a wait-and-see prognosis. Charlie's unique voice and his quest to understand the world around him will resonate with readers dealing with their own pain. Hopeful, authentic, and oddly endearing. (Fiction. 8-12)

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January 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-Charlie, 12, is fascinated by birds, a passion he shares with his dad. Charlie also has autism, which means that he prefers order and the safety of his own rituals to the wide open spaces of the world. Together, Charlie and his father make a list of "someday birds" that they want to see. But the stability of Charlie's life is disrupted when his father returns from Afghanistan with a severe brain injury. No one knows if he will recover, and Charlie and his siblings are anxious about it. It's decided that his dad will be moved across the country to Virginia for treatment. Along with a somewhat mysterious family friend/babysitter, Ludmila, the family set out from California to Virginia. Making the trip a sort of vacation, the children visit national parks and roadside wonders. Charlie makes the best of the disorganized adventure by trying to locate as many of the someday birds as possible, thinking this will please his father and speed up his recovery. Charlie is charming and lovable. He is a quiet and thoughtful boy who manages to be (in his own way) adventurous and brave. VERDICT Readers will genuinely be captivated and touched by Charlie's soft and sensitive demeanor and amused by his ponderous exploits across the country. A strong addition to most middle grade collections.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2016
Grades 4-7 If something's a fact, it's a fact, thinks 12-year-old Charlie. And the fact is, his journalist father has a brain injury sustained in a bombing in Afghanistan. When his father is sent from San Diego to Virginia for analysis and treatment, Charliethough he hates to traveland his siblings, along with their de facto, mysterious babysitter, Ludmila, head to Virginia, too. Along the way, avid birder Charlie (who compulsively washes his hands, can't read visual cues, can't look people in the eye, hates being touched, and more) is sure that if he can only manage to see all the birds on a list he and his father have made, his father will recover. Ludmila, for her part, seems eccentric, until she finally shares her heartrending story. Meanwhile, Charlie's goal is to find the reclusive Dr. Tiberius Shaw, a world-famous avian expert. Will he succeed, and will his father recover? The answers are forthcoming in Pla's charming, plot-rich story, bolstered by memorable characters. A delight from beginning to end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)