NB - Although I'm a children's writer, I don't usually write here about children's books. But this one is special - AND it would make a lovely Christmas present, particularly for a child who's interested in nature.
I live near the Somerset Levels, which are famous for the murmurations of thousands of starlings which take place during the winter months. These are extraordinary events: the sound as the vast flocks fly overhead is like a rushing wind, or like great waves crashing onto the shore.
So I was immediately captivated by the murmuration pictured on the cover of A. M. Dassu’s Wild Journey, and by the subtitle: A Flight of Stories Across Deserts and Forests, Cities and Seas. And the book most definitely did not disappoint.
It is a collection of stories about children in different parts of the world, each featuring a murmuration, and with the recurring motif of a black feather. The first story concerns Jamal, who comes from London but is spending a long sort-of holiday in Egypt. Normally he loves his holidays in Egypt, enjoying days out with his mother and grandparents – but this time they are here because his grandfather is ill and confined to bed, and Jamal is bored, and misses his friends and his father.
Then one afternoon, his grandmother takes him to see a murmuration. He is thrilled by the spectacle – but then a falcon goes on the attack, and Jamal rescues a wounded bird which falls to the ground. They take it home, and his mother, who is a vet, binds up the bird’s damaged wing. Jamal becomes attached to the bird – it’s his new friend. But he has to learn the harsh lesson that sometimes the price of loving something is that you have to set it free, to let it go: much as he wants to, he cannot keep the bird – just as, though this is not made at all explicit, he cannot keep his grandfather.
The other stories are very varied. There’s an adventure in the Sahara, an encounter with wolves in Spain, a refugee in an English school, a boy on a French farm struggling to come to terms with a new half-sister. The starlings wheel and dive through them all, linking them gracefully together.
I
love this book. There are so many fantasy books for children, often very good –
but it’s comparatively rare, and such a delight, to come across a book about
real children, dealing with real difficulties in the real world. The stories
are beautifully told, and incidentally take the reader on a virtual visit to a
variety of different countries. It’s perfect for reading aloud, in class or at
bedtime, but also for reading to oneself. The illustrations and the design are
gorgeous, celebrating wildlife as well as adding to the stories. This is a book
to cherish.
