Birdgirl: Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future

“Birdwatching... is a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven that there’s no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact” writes Craig in her dynamic debut. Born to a British father and Bangladeshi mother, Craig grew up in a family of fervent birdwatchers (or “twitchers”) for whom the activity wasn’t a hobby, but a means of survival. She recounts her family using travel to cope with her bipolar mother’s intensifying mood swings and troubling thoughts, sharing how they came together to search for birds in exotic destinations and traversed all seven continents before the author turned 15. As well, Craig touches on her 2016 founding of the charity Black2Nature, a platform to help give "visible minority ethnic" people better access to the outdoors (“To have a real shot at saving our world, we must involve every ethnicity as a matter of urgency”), sprinkles in background on endangered species and conservation efforts to save them, and offers something of a bird-watching 101 that covers techniques and explains the field’s jargon. This will inspire nature-minded readers. (Mar.)