Fly Away Home

Driven from her nest, Little Bird crosses paths with other migrating animals, including humans, looking for a safe place to call home.

Reading like a modern nursery rhyme, Fly Away Home begins with a family of birds launched into exile as "a troubling of hummingbirds / brings news of beyond" and "the deceit of lapwings drives its family to roam."

Author Betty Quan gives animals thought-provoking collective nouns (a charm of goldfinches, a flamboyance of flamingoes) -- some real, some invented -- while Akin Duzakin's simple yet suggestive illustrations spark curiosity about the characters Little Bird encounters.

On the wing, Little Bird witnesses the mass migrations of other animals: monarch butterflies, caribou, sea turtles -- and humans, too, including one little girl with a pink backpack. After her family finds asylum, Little Bird meets the little girl on a balcony in a new city -- a safe nest for both at last.

With the world witnessing an unprecedented level of migration--for greater opportunities or because of conflicts and climate change -- and over forty million international migrants under the age of twenty, Fly Away Home offers families and classrooms a hopeful entry to a complex topic.

Key Text Features

illustrations

BETTY QUAN is the author of Grandmother's Visit, illustrated by Carmen Mok, which won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Picture Book Honor and received a starred review from Quill & Quire. Betty has also written for children's television programs, including the Discovery Kids production Doki. Her play Mother Tongue was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. She also adapted Paul Yee's book Ghost Train for the stage. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

AKIN DUZAKIN is the illustrator of What the Kite Saw, written by Anne Laurel Carter, which was commended by the Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. He has illustrated fifty-two children's books and received a number of awards for his work, including a Special Mention for the BolognaRagazzi Award and two nominations for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Akin lives in Norway.