My Dad's a Birdman

"Flight as a metaphor for love’s transcendence over grief takes a new form in this comic piece of magical realism."
-School Library Journal

In a rainy town in the north of England, there are strange goings-on. Dad is building a pair of wings, eating flies, and feathering his nest. Auntie Doreen is getting cross and making dumplings. Contest barker Mr. Poop is parading the streets shouting louder and louder, and even Mr. Mint, the headmaster, is not quite himself. And watching it all is Lizzie, missing her mam and looking after Dad by letting him follow his newfound whimsy. From an inspired creative pairing comes a story of the Great Human Bird Competition - an exuberant tale of the healing power of flights of fancy, and a very special father-daughter bond.

Children's Literature

It may be a ordinary spring morning at 12 Lark Lane but Lizzie's life is anything but. She is up in the morning getting ready for school, making breakfast and badgering, cajoling and threatening her father until he is out of bed and on his way to the breakfast table. Lizzie's father is no longer the father Lizzie remembers—the one who built the doll house for her fifth birthday, the puppets and the puppet theater, the playhouse and the swing in the garden. This father is obsessed with flying, with becoming a birdman and with winning the Great Human Bird Competition. He has built beautiful wings. He is eating a diet of worms and flies. He has built a nest in the middle of the kitchen. Her dad, according to Auntie Doreen, is going potty as a pancake. This is an often laugh-out-loud story but one with an undercurrent of sadness. It is a story of loss: "I don't need you to be a birdman. I just need you to be my dad." And a story of acceptance: " Hey, Dad,' she said, mebbe I can help you.'" In the end, it does not matter if Lizzie and her dad fly or fall. Whatever happens..."We've got each other. We're doing it together... That's what really matters." Kids will giggle over the outlandish characters with silly names like Mr. Poop and Mrs. Doody. And the whimsical illustrations will give them a colorful peek into all the craziness that is going on at 12 Lark Lane. Reviewer: Anita Barnes Lowen

David Almond, whose many awards include a Carnegie Medal and a Michael L. Printz Award, is known worldwide as the author of SKELLIG, KIT'S WILDERNESS, HEAVEN EYES, THE FIRE EATERS, and many other books and plays. Of MY DAD'S A BIRDMAN, his first novel for younger readers, he says, "Birds have always been a big influence. It’s something to do with the urge to transcend our earthbound state, to sing, to be free. There is darkness in the story, of course, but I think I found a way to make a joyful piece about grieving, about how love can help us overcome pain, and about how the imagination can work profound changes." He lives in Northumberland, England.

Polly Dunbar is the author-illustrator of DOG BLUE, FLYAWAY KATIE, and PENGUIN, and the illustrator of SHOE BABY by Joyce Dunbar and HERE'S A LITTLE POEM by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters. She lives in Brighton, England.