Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
How to Heal a Broken Wing
Illustrator: Bob Graham
Picture Book
For ages 5 and up
Candlewick, 2008 ISBN: 978-0763639037
One day high up above the city streets, a pigeon flew into a glass window and then fell to the ground below. No one saw the accident or the fall, and no one saw the pigeon lying on the cement with its eyes closed, a single feather lying beside it. People walked by the fallen bird, never looking down, until Will came along.
The little boy saw the pigeon and realized that it was alive and injured. He picked the bird up and showed his find to mother, who was, at first, unsure of what to do. Then she took off her scarf and wrapped it around the bird and together they took the animal home.
Will’s father did not know what to do either when he saw the bird, but when he saw his son’s concern and hope, he too took on the cause of the bird. Together Will, his mother and his father did everything they could to make their injured guest comfortable. Though they could not put the feather the bird had lost back where it belonged, they could hope that the broken wing would heal.
This beautifully illustrated book, with its spare and meaningful text shows to great effect how powerful hope can be. We see how the little boy and his parents have the same willingness to do what they can to help another living thing that is in trouble, and how they invest time and effort on its behalf.
This is a book that readers of all ages will appreciate.
