Beyond the Laughing Sky

August 15, 2014
Nashville, who has qualities both human and birdlike, feels compelled to follow his avian destiny. The storytelling is folksy, poetic and seductive, beginning, "Nashville and his family lived in a house perched in the branches of the largest pecan tree in the village of Goosepimple." Little by little, readers learn how Nashville, unlike his adoring younger sister, Junebug, was hatched from an egg. He has a beak and feathers but, alas, no wings. Morstad's illustrations support the funnier details, including the dinner-table "perch swings" that Nashville's mother has installed "to make Nashville more comfortable" as he eats his seeds while his family eats typical human fare. The deadpan humor of Flat Stanley is invoked when Nashville's parents take him for his annual physical examination-at the veterinarian's office. In added playfulness, said vet is Dr. Larkin; the village teacher is Miss Starling. This allegory of growing up and finding one's figurative wings is told sweetly and without great angst, despite inclusions of such subjects as school bullying and Nashville's empathetic but highly illegal pet-store shenanigans. Yet there is an underlying melancholy throughout, somewhat mitigated by the possibility of future communications from the appealing bird-boy. "There's things you've seen and things you may not have, but there ain't nothing that's impossible, sugar," says a village widow; readers will end the book with a new sense of possible. (Magical realism. 8-11)

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July 1, 2014

Gr 5-7-Ten-year-old Nashville was hatched from an egg his father found on the sidewalk one day. Although he has feathers on his head and a beak for a nose, Nashville is a regular boy. Living in a house perched in the branches of the largest pecan tree in the village of Goosepimple, Nashville constantly feels as though he doesn't belong. He longs for the tops of trees, the cloudless skies, and the stars. Countless people have pointed and laughed at him over the years, making him feel as if he were a mistake. Although he receives support from his loving parents and happy-go-lucky sister, Junebug, Nashville yearns for the ability to fly and to join his fellow birds up in the sky. One day, Nashville unintentionally flies his toy plane into a magnolia bush, injuring a bird. Discovering that the bird has a broken wing, he is devastated ("without wings she can't fly"); he knows exactly how that feels. He builds the bird, Magnolia, a new wing and imagines if only he had wings big enough for himself. Before long, Nashville decides to build himself a pair of magnificent wings. With a variety of metaphorical language and imagery, this short read engenders the theme of acceptance and aspiration of fitting in.-Krista Welz, North Bergen High School, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
Grades 3-6 Ten-year-old Nashville is part boy, part bird, hatched from an egg that his dad found. Despite having parents and a sister, Junebug, who love him, he feels lost in his tiny hometown of Goosepimple. He dreams of doing only one thing: flying with the birds. Nashville and Junebug spend their days together exercising and stretching their imaginations as naturally as breathing, dreaming up all manner of stories and magical possibilities while taking joy in the smallest bits of the world around them. But then Nashville starts middle school, which means a new school with new teachers and students. He knows he is different, so it's up to him to make the first move while trying to figure out how to fit inor if he can, simply take to the skies. With sharp yet fanciful imagery and prose magical enough to make readers feel that they, too, can fly, Cuevas weaves a story that illustrates how we all have the power to become what we are meant to be. Perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)