Sugar Birds by Cheryl Grey Bostrom

 

My thoughts

I read this book and listened to the audio at the same time. It is a very good and very emotional story. Narrated by Jayne Entwistle. She did great. Made you feel the story.

Sugar Birds is a Literary fiction book that deals with a family. A family that has problems as most do. The Hayes family are a typical but somewhat unique family. A dad, mom and two children, a son and daughter. 

Aggie is a ten year old little girl who loves birds. Anything to do with birds. She climbs trees like they are nothing. Really truly high trees. Her mother, who suffers from depression, does not like this. It worries her to no end that Aggie will climb so high. What if she falls. They tend to fight about it a lot. 

Then there is another girl, Celia, who is sixteen. She is at her grandmother's for the summer and feels very betrayed by her dad. Her mother had left them several months earlier so Celia felt like her dad was deserting her also. She is very rebellious and filled with anger. She is intent on running away. Then word comes that Aggie is missing and a search ensues. 

This book is very well written. It's told from Aggie and Celia's POVs. About what all is happening during this time. You will meet a few characters. Some you will love and some not so much. One I truly detested. You will feel both of these girl's pain and despair. Sugar Birds is filled with lots of beauty. Lots of emotion. It's very good and one that will stick with you. You'll root for both of these young ladies to prevail. 

There is one part that made this book loose a star but I can't say because it would be a spoiler. I don't do spoilers. 

4 out of 5 stars. It's good. Read it with a few Kleenex handy. You will need them.

About

Northwest Washington State, 1985

For years, Harris Hayes has taught his daughter, Aggie, the ways of the northern woods. So when her mother's depression worsens, Harris shows the girl how to find and sketch the nests of wild birds as an antidote to sadness. Aggie is in a tree far overhead when her unpredictable mother spots her and forbids her to climb. Angry, the ten-year-old accidentally lights a tragic fire, then flees downriver. She lands her boat near untamed forest, where she hides among the trees and creatures she considers her only friends—determined to remain undiscovered.

A search party gathers by Aggie’s empty boat hours after Celia, fresh off the plane from Houston, arrives at her grandmother’s nearby farm. Hurting from her parents’ breakup, she also plans to run. But when she joins the hunt for Aggie, she meets two irresistible young men who compel her to stay. One is autistic; the other, dangerous.

Perfect for fans The Scent Keeper, The Snow Child, and The Great Alone, Sugar Birds immerses readers in a layered, evocative coming-of-age story set in the breathtaking natural world where characters encounter the mending power of forgiveness—for themselves and for those who have failed them.