My Words Flew Away Like Birds

Starred review from July 15, 2021
When an unnamed protagonist leaves her home country for an English-speaking one, the words she's always relied on fly away, leaving her silent and a little bit lonely. Practicing English in her original home left her unprepared for both how quickly people speak and how much slang they use. From the teacher's lecture to the voice on the intercom, everything feels impossible to understand. Words, however, are not the only source of her confusion. When she gets lost at school, the teacher calls the protagonist the "new girl," even though she is who she's always been--it's everything else that's new. The girl misses her friends, wishing she could tell them about all the new things she's seen, like snow, and dogs wearing boots. Eventually, she is able to make a new friend--and when she does, her words, slowly, come back. This warmly illustrated picture book adeptly captures the experience of moving to a new country and learning a new language. The narrator's struggle and her slow but steady adjustment to her new home perfectly balance optimism and realism. The book's watercolor-and-ink drawings evoke a world that feels simultaneously diffuse and sharply defined, thereby serving as a wonderful parallel for the narrator's experience. All characters have paper-white skin and black hair; the narrator wears her hair in two puffy pigtails, and her new friend wears hers in a pageboy. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A frank and optimistic picture book about learning to live in a new language. (Picture book. 3-8)

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October 15, 2021
Grades K-2 In preparation for their move to a place where they would need to know English, a little girl and her family learn some phrases for meeting and greeting people. Upon their arrival, however, they discover that their efforts were in vain and that their English phrases do not match the speed and colloquialisms of people around them. This is a nuanced, tender rendition of a child's isolation due to being in an unfamiliar place where everything is different. Eventually, a serendipitous moment results in a new friendship and an exchange that requires only a few words, along with lots of smiles and gestures that portend an optimistic future. Figures drawn in black ink bounce around backgrounds painted with wide strokes of pastel blues and pinks, suggesting an urban setting that could be anywhere, lending the book a universality and playfulness. Can be paired thematically with Robert Munsch's From Far Away (2017).

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November 15, 2021
The paper white–skinned, black-pigtailed protagonist of this endearing picture book offers a close look at emigration and language acquisition. Pearson elucidates the child’s struggles in poetic prose, carefully leaving their countries of origin and emigration unspecified to highlight the universality of the child’s emotions: “Their words did not sound/ like the ones I had learned./ So I did not say anything.” The child details a handful of experiences: homesickness; someone attempting to introduce the family to a person “from the same place,” only to have their former homes be different; and finally, making a friend. Jain contributes doodle-like pen and ink artwork, with digitally airbrushed coloring in a light
palette, in this approachable, empathic tale. Ages 4–8.