Book to Share: The Secret Language of Birds, by Lynne Kelly

Want another book to add to your 2025 Newbery hopeful list? You've come to the right place. The Secret Language of Birds, by Lynne Kelly, has so many elements that I love in a middle grade novel: a main character with a fun obsession, a plot that revolves around friendship and fitting in (or learning when not to), an evocative setting, and a "plot problem" that is both realistic to the middle grade years while feeling high stakes for that character. 

Here's the publisher's description: 

Nina is used to feeling like the odd one out, both at school and in her large family. But while trying to fit in at summer camp, she discovers something even more two majestic birds have built a nest in the marsh behind an abandoned infirmary. They appear to be whooping cranes, but that’s impossible—Nina is an amateur bird-watcher, and all her resources tell her that those rare birds haven’t nested in Texas for over a hundred years.

When Nina reports the sighting to wildlife officials, more questions arise. Experts track all the endangered birds, but they can’t identify the female bird that Nina found. Who is she, and where did she come from?

With the help of some fellow campers, Nina sets out to discover who the mystery bird really is. As she gets closer to the truth, will she find a flock of her own?

This instant classic from award-winning author Lynne Kelly captures the coming-of-age moment of learning to spread your wings in a way you'll never forget.

I think I can safely say that my very favorite types of characters in middle grade (maybe in all books?) tend to have one trait in common: they LOVE things deeply. They get obsessed. They can tell you every detail about their favorite things, whether you asked or not. So Nina's obsession with birdwatching automatically pulled me into her story—especially, okay, because birdwatching is an obsession I might just happen to share. Lynne Kelly even managed to get two of my favorite birdwatching bits of trivia into the story (how to tell the difference between young herons and egrets—hey, it comes up a lot when you live next to a river—and one I will call "the Shakespeare one" so I don't spoil it for you, but it's very funny). My children have heard me monologue for minutes on end about the recovery of the osprey population in Connecticut (as I explain WHY I am so excited about something that is now so commonplace as an osprey nest), so none of them were surprised at all when I fell in love with a book about two endangered birds and a girl who loves them.

All that said… even if birdwatching holds very little interest for you, you will be pulled in by Nina's story. Because birdwatching is just a fascinating canvas on which Lynne Kelly paints the story of a girl who is learning to love who she is and to love others for who they are, too. Who is growing in her ability to accept love and to give it. Basically, a girl who is learning how to be a friend. And there's no more quintessentially middle grade story than that.

Mostly, the themes in this book are appropriate for even young middle grade readers, though before you hand this off to a sensitive reader, you may want to be aware that is discusses purposeless hunting of an endangered bird. The main character also sneaks off by herself several times throughout the book and keeps secrets from adults—but both of these issues are met with consequences; she does regret her bad choices and learns from them.

Have you read ​The Secret Language of Birds ​yet? What did you think?

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations, check out Always in the Middle at http://gpattridge.com