Synopses & Reviews
For a moment Leora's hand froze, exposed, the delicate webbing between her fingers translucent as a fish's fin, luminous against the morning sun. "If you go out there, the birmbas will eat you up and spit out your bones," Tanette taunted. "And besides," she added in her tattletale voice, "it is forbidden." Leora's webbed hand has always marked her as different. Orphaned and outcast in her stepmother's household, she keeps the hand hidden for fear of being sent to the Institute along with other "defectives." Her hand sets her apart, but it also allows her to draw pictures with haunting power. When Leora peers past the locked gates of her village, she feels her life might be different. But it isn't until she dares to free a baby birmba, a creature she's been taught to fear, that her life begins to change. For it is this act of kindness that sets in motion an unforgettable adventure, a quest for family and belonging, that takes Leora into the forbidden Outside.
Review
A page-turning adventure with a memorable heroine. (School Library Journal)
Review
Readers will enjoy the vivid characters, fast-paced action and chapter endings that entice one to read on. (Children's Literature)
About the Author
Susan Butler grew up listening to stories, and she knew she would grow up to write them. Among her favorites as a child were books by Robert McCloskey, with their picture of Maine, where the woods come down to the sea. These books kindled her dream of one day living in Maine--and many years later, she built a house there. It is surrounded by the song of the hermit thrush, and that, along with the beauty of the Schoodic coast, inspired her to fulfill another dream: of writing a novel like the ones she had so enjoyed as a child. Ms. Butler teaches photography at Pine Manor College. Her first book was a photographic picture book, A Trip to the Jungle. The Hermit Thrush Sings is her first novel. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.