My Dad's A Birdman (Hardcover)

by David Almond (Author), Polly Dunbar (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 1–4—A distinguished author's use of birds and human flight as metaphors for love's transcendence over grief and death takes a new form in this comic piece of magical realism. Lizzie and her widowed dad live in a city along the river Tyne in the north of England. From the first page it is clear that Lizzie is playing parent to her father's irresponsible child. Both are reacting to the recent death of Lizzie's mother. While the girl works hard at school, Dad remains in his room, unshaven and undressed. Finding purpose in the recently announced Great Human Bird Competition ("the first one to fly over the river Tyne wins a thousand pounds"), he secretly constructs a pair of wings from bird feathers and starts to consume bugs and worms. Sensible Auntie Doreen, as solid as her dumplings, calls him "daft." But when she tries to take Lizzie away from him, the child does her realistic best to make her father's dreams come true. Handsomely produced, the book is printed in varying size typefaces and enhanced by Dunbar's pencil, watercolor, and collage illustrations interspersed throughout the text. Casual yet evocative, they perfectly interpret Almond's broadly sketched characters. A fine read-aloud.—Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
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From Booklist
What if your dad was Skellig? Perhaps the idea of normalizing the mysterious, memorable character from his eponymous first book for young people wasn’t what Almond had in mind here, but it’s difficult not to think of Skellig when Lizzie’s father, Jackie, is eating bugs and trying to sprout wings. First written as a play for the Young Vic theater, this is an odd but moving piece. Jackie is obsessed with making wings that will take him high enough to win Mr. Poop’s Great Human Bird Competition. Jackie’s sister, Aunt Doreen, tries to keep him tethered with her rock-hard dumplings, but soon Lizzie joins Jackie in trying to fly—their method of propulsion, “wings and faith.” Dunbar’s glorious watercolor-and-collage artwork captures the happiness throughout. Despite flying flops, father and daughter realize it’s togetherness that can make someone soar. But in Roald Dahl–like fashion, there’s darkness here. Jackie is disturbing—possibly mad—and the subtly mentioned death of Lizzie’s mother adds an undercurrent of sadness. As always, however, Almond writes beautifully, and though particular moments may give pause, this novel is a tribute to the human spirit. Grades 4-6. --Ilene Cooper

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763636673
• ISBN-13: 978-0763636678
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #944,126 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars joy from the ashes of grief, August 4, 2008

By	delzey (new england) - See all my reviews

Lizzie's a bright, independent girl who gets her self up in the morning, gets dressed, makes tea and toast, and calls her dad down to breakfast. But dad drags. Dad droops. And when asked what his plans are for the day while she's at school dad announces that he's going to fly like a bird and enter the human bird competition. Suddenly we are faced with a role reversal of a responsible parent-like child and a child-like parent. What would cause this reversal only becomes obvious by the lack, and no mention of, Lizzie's mother. This is made clear a few chapters in when Lizzie's Aunt Doreen drops by to see to how Lizzie and her dad are getting along. Once she sees that dad has fashioned a set of wings for himself and has taken to eating bugs (in order to be more bird-like), and that Lizzie has taken to staying home from school to watch after her dad it becomes painfully clear that we are dealing with a great unspoken grief.

In the end Lizzie and her dad participate together in the Great Human Bird Competition, a sort of flugtag where people adorn themselves in wings and rockets and whatnot and attempt to traverse a body of water propelled under their own power. Dad's obsession with flying at first seems a bi-product of a mental break-down, but as Lizzie (and eventually her Headmaster) discover as they participate in the competition, the act of faith necessary to hurl yourself into the world is exactly what they both need in order to move ahead with their lives. Feeling more alive than before, they reconnoiter back at Aunt Doreen's for some dumplings and find themselves dancing with a new-found joy, a joy that leaves them lighter than birds and flying off the ground.

Almond has managed to dip his pen into Roald Dahl's inkwell and produce a magnificent examination of what it means to find joy after loss, for a family to find their way through the other side of the darkness no matter how odd it may look on the outside. Aunt Doreen and the Headmaster understand the situation and are keeping tabs to make sure that Lizzie and her dad don't fall to far off track, but they hang back enough to let the process run its course.

The feel of this book is what gives it the Dahl flavor in my mind. It would be hard to imagine this story in a contemporary environment without meddling government agencies and relatives who would insist on remaining in the home to assure everything was alright. Aunt Doreen makes a social call but is driven from the house by the sheer absurdity of it all, promising to return with help. The help she return with isn't the police or child protective services but the school headmaster who is more interested in joining Lizzie and her dad in their adventure rather than find fault, place a judgment, or insist on a return to normalcy. It is also in the child as the responsible one and the adults as fools that I find the spectre of Dahl lurking.

Almond can't seem to get away from the connections he makes with birds and death, and certainly there's enough mythology, symbolism, and history to support these connections. But Almond chose the bird's ability to fly to show a rising above, a phoenix-like symbolism for a family being reborn from the ashes of their sorrow. There is nothing sad or sorrowful in the book itself, the entire affair has a sense of whimsy to it, but it's all there just below the surface allowing us to how happiness and joy can re-emerge from experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book, November 13, 2008

By	Blaze (California) - See all my reviews

This book is hilarious on the surface, and, underneath, is the most beautiful description of grief that I've ever seen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, April 11, 2008

By	Alexandra Saperstein "Alex Saperstein" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked up this book by chance at Powells and it was a beautiful, beautiful read. I had no idea where it was really going and so I don't want to give anything away but just prepare to be moved and inspired to build your own wings after you read this special little book. It is a reminder that we should all be working on wings of our own.