Featherless/Desplumado [Hardcover]

Juan Felipe Herrera (Author), Ernesto Cuevas Jr. (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

At his new school or on the soccer field, all everyone wants to know is why Tomasito is in a wheelchair. His father gives Tomasito a new pet to make him smile, but this bird is a little bit different. Can Tomasito's featherless friend teach him that there's more than one way to fly? Will the cheers Tomasito hears on the sidelines ever be for him?

Award-winning author and poet Juan Felipe Herrera scores yet again with this sparkling story of friendship and self-empowerment. The brilliant acrylic paintings by Ernesto Cuevas, Jr., burst off the page with sheer joy.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3–Tomasito is having a hard time adjusting to his new school. Even though he wants to do what the other kids do, spina bifida keeps him wheelchair bound. To help him with his transition, his supportive and loving father gives him a new pet. Desplumadois a featherless bird that cannot fly. But, as Tomasito learns with the help of a new friend, there is more than one way to fly, and more than one way to play soccer. He is great at heading the ball, and as his participation and inclusion in the Fresno Flyers soccer team becomes a reality. Herrera's prose poem is a paean to those children who overcome adversity to create inclusion. Cuevas's oil illustrations, with forms surrounded by heavy black lines, work well in the soccer scenes but seem lumpy and inert in the indoor scenes, where the hues are darker and muddier. Still, this title could be used for a storytime focus on acceptance and tolerance and in ELL programs.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 3. In this bilingual picture book, the text is better than the somewhat garish acrylic illustrations. Unable to walk because of his spina bifida, Tomasito feels unconnected in his new school. His father brings him a featherless parrot for company, but the boy wants nothing to do with a bird that looks so different. Eventually, Tomasito finds a place for himself on the soccer field, where he learns that one doesn't necessarily need feathers to fly. The message is heavy, but always the poet, Herrera transforms the language to depict both the boy's isolation and later his boundless joy. The Spanish offers slightly richer detail than the English: a "casita-trailer" is more descriptive, for example, than the simple trailer. An encouraging story, especially for Latino children with disabilities, who may recognize themselves and find their own ways to fly. Julie Kline
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Children's Book Press; Bilingual edition (June 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892391952
• ISBN-13: 978-0892391950
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,271,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Children's Health > Special Needs Children

More About the Author

Juan Felipe Herrera was initiated into the Word by the fire-speakers of the early Chicano Movimiento and by heavy exposure to various poetry, jazz, and blues performance streams. He is the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California - Riverside. His published works include Border-Crosser with a Lamborghini Dream, Mayan Drifter: Chicano Poet in the Lowlands of the Americas, and Thunderweavers / Tejedoras de Rayos.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fly Like an Eagle!, September 1, 2010

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Featherless/Desplumado (Hardcover)

"I want to fly like an eagle, till I'm free. Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me." -- Steve Miller Band, 1976

"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles;
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary." -- Isaiah, 40:31

Tomasito, a tween (8-12) lives with his single father in a small trailer in Fresno, California. New in town from Mendota, Tomasito fears being excluded and ostracized by his peers because he has spina bifida and needs a wheelchair.

To give his son some inspiration, Tomasito's father buys him a little bird. The first things Tomasito notices about the bird is that he is featherless (desplumado) and that he has a withered leg. Tomasito wonders why on earth his Papi bought him such a bird, but his wise Papi tells him that the bird CAN fly, but in a very different way.

Meanwhile, on the school front, Tomasito is coping with a new set of kids and rules. One girl, Marlena, reaches out to him and even encourages him to join the school soccer team. She sees beyond Tomasito's wheelchair and really insists that he join the team. Tomasito thinks it over and even has a dream about flying with his bird, Desplumado.

Luckily, Tomasito takes Marlena's advice. He does join the soccer team and, once having spread his wings, so to speak, he in turn is able to love and reach out to his beautiful bird, the key to Tomasito tapping into his inner resources.

This is a beautiful book with lovely illustrations. It is written in English and Spanish so readers can get comfortable with both languages. That is also a form of cultural sharing. Tomasito's kind Papi and his friend Marlena as well as Desplumado will find permanent places in the hearts of those who read this story. This masterpiece of a book belongs in classrooms and in families.

Nathan's Wish: A Story about Cerebral Palsy is a good companion book to this gem.