Impulse buy at the bookstore. Spoilers ahead.
After the death of his mother, a boy named Will is sent to live with his uncle, who lives in an area with rich nature. Here, will befriends another boy named Omar, and the duo soon discover a rare osprey nest, something they keep a secret. But then one of the chicks is knocked from the nest. Will, and later Omar, decided to try and look after the chick themselves in secret, but soon find themselves stuck when the bird, whom they name Whitetip, gets sick and isn't improving. The only way to save Whitetip would be to tell the truth to the adults around them, but this could get the both of them, especially Omar, in huge trouble. What will they do?
A beautiful book, I'm glad I picked it up on a whim. It's a neat inspirational story about family, loss, nature and finding a new purpose in life. It had me hooked from start to finish and the characters are great.
I do love how this book portrays the healing powers of nature. I know that this is just because it hits very personally for me myself, but if a story has a powerful message about "nature is good actually and worth saving, but it can also save you" I usually love it. Nature is very important to me and always has been. So I think that this book is a good execution of this message.
I also love the characters. Will is a very likable lead, not perfect by any means, but still a realistic kid you want to see succeed. Omar is also a neat deuteragonist. And the characters around them are all pretty darn memorable, too. I also like how none of them are portrayed as true antagonists at any points in the story. Yes, they are adults and they do to an extent disagree with what Will and Omar did and think that the boys could've gone about things differently. But they're never at any point one-note antagonists like you find in quite a few children's books. And when Will and Omar finally do come clean about rescuing and hiding Whitetip, the adult characters around them do agree to help them. They do of course punish the boys to an extent for breaking the rules, but it's all pretty minor stuff and nothing outlandish. So, I don't know, I just like this cast of characters a lot. They all feel like real people and none of them are outright unlikable.
Another thing I commend is Will's bond with Whitetip. While the duo to clearly share a powerful connection because Will nursed her back to health and in turn Whitetip gave him a new purpose in life, their bond is never really anything more than that of a boy and a bird. Whitetip never becomes a pet, she isn't his mother re-incarnated or anything, they don't have a supernatural connection, and in the end Whitetip is rewilded without looking back. I appreciate that the author kept Whitetip as a realistic-feeling bird, not some kind of magically-bonded animal companion. Yes, she and Will have a strong connection, but it never goes any deeper than that. Bruton keeping Whitetip as a wild, non-anthropomorhpized animal is something I can definitely appreciate. Sometimes these "kid befriends wild animal"-type of stories tend to make the bond unrealistically too strong, make the animal a glorified pet, or tend to somewhat anthropomorphize the animal. None of these are done here.
Overall this is a strong book with a strong message and great characters and an engaging storyline. Do recommend it.
Rating: 4/5
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