What the Birds See [Hardcover]

Sonya Hartnett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003

Entwining a tale of missing children with the story of a lonely little boy, Sonya Hartnett captures the tenderness and dread of childhood in a work of exceptional storytelling.


The year is 1977, and Adrian is nine. He lives with his gran and his uncle Rory. His best friend is Clinton Tull. Adrian loves to draw, and he wants a dog. He’s afraid of quicksand, shopping centers, and self-combustion. But as closely as he watches his suburban world, there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighborhood children might set out to buy ice cream one summer’s day and never be seen again. . . .

In this suburb that is no longer safe and innocent, in a broken family of self-absorbed souls, Sonya Hartnett sets the story of a lone little boy - unwanted, unloved, and intensely curious - a story as achingly beautiful as it is shattering. As her quiet tale ominously unfolds, we are reminded of how fragile are the threads that hold us secure - and how brave, how precious, is the heart of each child who soldiers on.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-Rarely is a sentence turned so well, a setting so remarkably established, and a plot so evenly polished as in this book. Immediately, in the preface, readers are confronted with a spellbinding scenario. Three children head down the footpath from their home in Australia to the ice-cream shop, and they are never seen again. In a neighboring town, nine-year-old Adrian is fearful of much, talented, perceptive, curious, a virtual outcast in his school, and an unhappy resident in his grandmother's home. He notices the three children who move into a house across the road and wonders if they could possibly be the missing trio. Adrian subsequently meets the oldest girl, Nicole, in the park one afternoon as she cares for a dying bird. His suspicions of her identity are further aroused by her sly answers to his inquiries. A psychic reports that the missing children are located near water, and Nicole and Adrian take it upon themselves to find them. Returning to the pool and sensing they must be near, Nicole ventures onto the pool cover and falls through the center. Gathering his newly discovered courage, Adrian attempts to rescue her but plunges to his death, as well. Tightly composed and ripe with symbolism, this complex book will offer opportunities for rich discussion.
Daniel L. Darigan, West Chester University, PA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-12. "Everybody leaves me. I'm not allowed to be anywhere." Forcibly removed from his depressed mother and rejected by his father, nine-year-old Adrian is sent to live with his exhausted, intolerant grandmother, Beattie--or "granmonster," as Adrian secretly calls her. When his only friend at school rejects him, Adrian becomes even more achingly alone. Then three children move next door (just as three children disappear from another neighborhood), and Adrian forms a tenuous friendship with the mysterious oldest girl, Nicole. Hartnett lets readers wonder for a while whether Nicole is actually one of the missing children, one of the many elements of the story--among them, Adrian's wild, orphaned schoolmate Horsegirl--that seems somewhat forced. Hartnett's prose is beautiful, filled with piercing, original imagery that, like David Almond's, explores the savage, animal instincts in humans, especially children. The climax is shocking, and the telling, unusually honest and haunting, explores the many ways that children can be lost--quickly and dramatically, or through small, failed gestures of imperfect love. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; 1 edition (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763620920
• ISBN-13: 978-0763620929
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.8 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,385,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Hard Sell, March 15, 2003

By 

Inspector Gadget "Go Go Gadget Reviews" (On the trail of Doctor Claw) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What the Birds See (Hardcover)

The blurb on the back of this book got me pretty interested. A sea monster. Missing Children. A lonely boy and his only pal. It kind of built up a picture of two kids teaming up to find a sea monster who kidnaps children. Plus it is set in 1977, which indicated some sort of nostalgic appeal to me, but it ends up being a bit pointless.

My guess is that this book is mostly a true story. Sonya Hartnett states that Adrian (our main, and lonely character) is very much based on her (in 1977 she would have been Adrian's age) and her reaction to the Japanese finding a sea monster would be identical to Adrian's. Considering that the story doesn't really go anywhere the whole thing seems to be some sort of vanity project. There is no point in really anything that happens and it builds up to a questionable (though utterly heartbreaking) climax that links nothing together. The book is NOT about a sea monster. It's NOT about missing children. It's NOT about 1977.

It's set in an unidentified Australian suburb in a cold fall where Adrian wanders around watching things and never being a part of them. He feels so totally alone and friendless. Then a new family of kids move in over the street and he strikes up an 'iffy' friendship. From here things become bleaker and bleaker until the depressing ending seems the only possible conclusion. While it may be a negative ending I guarantee that you'll never forget it.

Perhaps my assumptions of what the book would be about led to disappointment. And maybe a realistic story full of dead ends is better than something fantastical and fake. The realistic approach is good for kids (not necessarily a kid's book I must add) and I'm glad there is a book accessible to children that isn't all fun and games and magic.

What The Birds See (the title puzzles me) is full of despair and torment. And trust me, no child or adult will be cheering at the ending.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely, haunting read..., May 2, 2003

By 

Greg Hills (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What the Birds See (Hardcover)

This author can WRITE. There are writers who just put words down on paper, and then there are artists, creating entire worlds, interior and exterior. Sonya Hartnett is an artist.

The story is haunting, a mystery of sorts, nearly lyrical in places. Many places. I'd not want to give anything away. The perceptive reader will pick up on clues as it is.

As it is, we have the tale of a nine year old boy who does not ...well, how do you say it...just doesn't come prepared to handle the tasks and toils of living. He is etherial, more spirit than flesh, and doesn't fit into the world as do the flesh-bound. This is his life, this short novel is (which, by the way, is far more geared for adults than for teens, who haven't yet lived enough to grasp it).

The bird imagery is right on target, a constant metaphor that connects the entire story like a flock of separate, yet united, birds in flight. It is not a matter of whether or not the story is a happy one, for everything in life needn't be Disney. It is, moreover, a story that will land in the inside of the reader, a bird flown from the pages and into the heart.

It will stay there for a very long time.

I cannot fully express how worthy a read this is, and yet how unnerving.

I am in awe. It is a flawless novel.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the Birds See, March 5, 2003

By 

Lily Meier (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What the Birds See (Hardcover)

I just recieved this book for my birthday. I began reading it and i was hooked from the first page. The beginning is amazing and as the book continues, you begin to get sucked into Sonya Hartnett's dark world that she creates in the book. I strogly suggest this book to anyone who loves to read!