How to Heal a Broken Wing by Graham, Bob (2008) Hardcover - Hardcover

Bob Graham has written and illustrated many acclaimed children's picture books, including Max (9780744598278), which won the 2000 Smarties Gold Medal, and Jethro Byrde, Fairy Child (9781844284825), which won the 2003 Kate Greenaway Medal. He has won the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award an unprecedented three times.

*Starred Review* Quietly, effectively, Graham tells the simple story of a boy who finds a fallen bird and nurses it back to health. The text is minimal. In a busy city, “No one saw the bird fall.” But a little boy walking with his mother spies the injured bird and brings it home. Up until this point, the art has effectively utilized the oversize format, filling it with full-page pictures, vertical and horizontal strips, and cartoon-style boxes in cloudy hues. At the moment the boy lifts the bird, Graham slows the story and offers a two-page spread full of bright, hopeful colors and an intense focus on the boy with the bird in hand. Turn the page and both mood and perspective change once more. Now the pages are full of people, walking, biking, rushing, while in an upper corner of the spread, encircled in a glow, readers find boy and bird; the unspoken, unwritten message is clear. Who cares in such a large place if a small pigeon falls? One child does. Although the rest of the story is a little anticlimactic, there is a satisfying reality to it as the bird is bandaged, heals, and is set free. Because this is such a visual piece, however, readers, young and old, will return to the story to look more deeply; they won’t be disappointed. Preschool-Grade 1. --Ilene Cooper