1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Palacio, R.J. 2019. WHITE BIRD. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780525645535.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Julian has been recently expelled from school because of his bullying behavior toward another student (our beloved Auggie, from Wonder.) At his new school, he is assigned to research someone and write an essay about his/her life. He has chosen his grandmere, his beloved grandmother, Sara. She tells him the harrowing story of her life during World War II, as a Jewish French citizen. Her story is filled with both love and hate. As the Nazis invade her town, she is forced to separate from her family, and finds herself at the mercy of a kind classmate. The bravery, compassion, and generosity of the people in Sara’s story will inspire her grandson, as well as the reader. Palacio connects the past to the present and once again, petitions for our humanity.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This graphic novel is very well done! Palacio is so talented, to be both the writer and illustrator of this work. Kevin Czap is the artist that “inked” the story, which I recently learned is a crucial role in graphics. Czap created the shades and shadows of the drawings.
The color choices create the tone of the story, and in this case, the muted colors of the flashback story are different from the brighter colors of the current day story. The narrator, Sara Blum, describes her younger life as a fairytale, and the color choices match that description- soft, happy colors. Then the shades associated with the evil of the Nazis and conspirators are darker and more shadowy.
I loved that this story was told in the form of a graphic novel. The pictures added so much to the story. The emotions of this book are strong, and the details of the characters’ body language and facial expressions added to the depth and complexity of the emotion. Also, the symbolism was augmented by the visual aspect. For example, the yellow scarf that the sacrificial school teacher gives to Sara, as a symbol of hope and strength. Sara wears it throughout her time in hiding, but then she passes it along to Madame Beaumier, who must continue to face life without her son.
There is a strong social-emotional lesson here. A connection is quickly made between bullying and oppression. Bullying is a term that one may view as banal or innocuous, but abuse and cruelty get our attention much quicker. They are one in the same, and Palacio shows her reader both the evidence and consequence.
4. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Kirkus Reviews starred, July 2019, “ Although the book is being marketed as middle-grade, the complexities of the Holocaust in Vichy France, the growing relationship between Sara and Julien, Julien’s fate, and the mutual mistrust among neighbors will be most readily appreciated by Wonder’s older graduates. A must-read graphic novel that is both heart-rending and beautifully hopeful.”
Publishers Weekly, July 2019
School Library Journal, September 2019, “Moments set in the present featuring Julian and Grandmère frame the tale and draw parallels to family separation at the U.S. border, offering a powerful conclusion.”
Sydney Taylor Book Award, 2020
5. CONNECTIONS
*The topic of bullying needs to be addressed throughout every stage of schooling. This book would be a poignant addition to a SEL unit on bullying, along with Fish in a Tree, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Restart by Gordon Korman, or A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat.
*White Bird would also be a great complementary piece of a Holocaust study, alongside other middle grade books like Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen, or Village of Scoundrels by Margi Preus. There are so many more!
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