The River of Birds
Age range 6+
A young child and a grandmother share a love of birds. Every day after school they watch the birds outside her window and draw them with coloUred pencils, the scent of ginger tea hanging in the air. When they find a dead goldfinch outside the window one day, the grandmother teaches her grandchild about the enduring strength of love that continues even when a body is no longer living. This lesson returns to the child in a powerful dream after the grandmother dies —a dream that becomes a healing gift for the child’s grandfather.
Gorgeously illustrated by wildlife artist and illustrator Michael Boardman, Libby Moore’s The River of Birds is a gentle story that looks honestly at grief and love. The beautiful themes and lush illustrations will bring comfort to readers of all ages. The book includes a guide put together by clinical psychologist Mary Plouffe, PhD, that provides practical resources for adults who are supporting grieving children.
'A moving and beautiful tale about a family, a loss, and the natural world that binds us all together. With exquisite tenderness, Moore reveals the persistent, transcendent power of love.' — Lily King, bestselling author of Writers and Lovers
'A touchingly simple story with a profound and poignant message of reassurance...that our loved ones live on in the most exquisite of ways.' — Patrice Karst, bestselling author of The Invisible String
While Libby Moore spent her childhood roaming the meadows and forests of northeast Ohio, her heart and spirit grew up canoeing and camping in the north woods of Ontario. She earned a Master of Forestry from Yale University, where she also met her husband. She went to work as a forest ecologist in midcoast Maine, and they settled on an old saltwater farm, where they raised three children. Every winter they watched birds from the kitchen window for Cornell University’s Project FeederWatch. The idea for The River of Birds came to Libby in a dream, just like the dream of the story’s protagonist. Libby was a Reiki practitioner and worked with life-force energy to offer healing and support to her clients. Her work has been published in the Christian Science Monitor. The River of Birds was her first book.
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