Bird Boy

This affecting slice-of-life story set in Southern China features a mute boy who lives on a houseboat where his family raises cormorants that catch fish for them to sell. Although Chang can't speak, ""the birds seemed to understand his odd squawks and croaks,"" and so the local bully, Jiang, nicknames him ""Bird Boy."" Now old enough to go cormorant fishing with his father, Chang proves himself such a worthy helper that he is entrusted with raising the family's new chick. When Jiang kidnaps the baby bird and nearly kills it, it's up to Chang to rescue and nurse it back to health. Hill's (Evan's Corner) economical prose effortlessly weaves in multiple themes of courage, responsibility and friendship (between boy and birds as well as boy and Mei Mei, the bully's sister) while shedding light on a Chinese family's unique way of earning a living. With his cheerful and resourceful nature, Chang is a believable and sympathetic character; the small-scale domestic dramas around which Hill builds her tale create a pace and flow as rhythmic as the river where Chang makes his home. Final artwork not seen by PW. Ages 8-up. (Apr.)