The Class with Wings

September 15, 2024
Led by their teacher, budding birders imagine their lives as veeries. When Ms. Lee turns off the lights and starts playing rainforest sounds, her students know it's time to fly into their imaginations. In vibrantly hued scenes, honey-colored veeries--"Sort of like robins but smaller"--flit over the dark shadowy blue of the classroom. Ms. Lee sets the scene, describing the birds' eating and migration habits. Bright, saturated images of the birds contrast with faded depictions of the schoolchildren. In one spread, the young, Black-presenting narrator holds out an arm, which becomes a multicolored wing. As the students follow the veeries' migration from Brazil to the United States and Canada, they learn that deforestation, dogs, and lit windows all pose dangers. The children draw parallels between themselves and the birds. Just as veeries fall prey to raptors, kids are vulnerable to bullies. One youngster begins wondering about a relative's immigrant journey--was it as perilous as a veerie's travels? Matter-of-fact text pairs well with dreamy illustrations that illuminate the students' thoughts as effectively as the "bird river" they're imagining. In the final spread, the narrator comes face to face with a real bird, and the two share a curious moment: "I think it knows I'm a veery, too." Ms. Lee presents Asian; her students are diverse. A visually stirring guide to empathizing with the natural world. (further reading, facts about birds)(Picture book. 5-9)

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Starred review from August 12, 2024
Newbery Medalist Fleischman follows a teacher helping students to imagine themselves as veeries migrating from Brazil to Wisconsin, where the classroom is. Every afternoon at 2:30, Ms. Lee closes the curtains and turns off the lights, while the classmates place their heads on their arms and shut their eyes, readying to “become birds.” Ms. Lee narrates the migration’s launch: “You’d normally pick out a branch to perch on... but tonight will be different. You’re ready.” The voice of a student takes up the narrative: “My arms become wings.... I’m flying!” Salyer (Ancestory) works in loose, dreamy, digitally finished colored pencil and gouache spreads, imagining a flock of golden-brown veeries taking flight, each one bursting forth from a child at their desk. Throughout, as Ms. Lee narrates (“You always fly at night when fewer hawks and falcons are around”), individual students compare the bird’s circumstances with their own. “Schoolkids have bullies,” one thinks; “Veeries have raptors. Except raptors eat you.” The educator’s success at bringing the migration to life, the children’s excitement, and Salyer’s artwork—especially portraits of students sharing in communal and individual wonder—combine affectingly in this quietly informative interspecies adventure. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Back matter includes more about avian life. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House.

January 1, 2025
In Ms. Lee's class, students sit in darkness with their heads down on their desks, eyes closed, listening to recorded sounds of the rainforest. They imagine themselves as veeries, "sort of like robins but smaller." Their teacher narrates the birds' journey, starting in Brazil and ending in the class's home of Wisconsin. One child, drawn into the lesson, narrates the quiet text, but Fleischman also provides glimpses into other students' thoughts as they find parallels between the veeries' story and their own lives. (The veery feels "jumpy and can't sit still"; one child thinks, "That's just what my mom said about me last night.") They learn about the birds' flight patterns, biology, and eating habits, as well as weather influences, human-made dangers, and threats from predators: "Schoolkids have bullies. Veeries have raptors. Except raptors eat you." Students and teachers alike will be inspired by Ms. Lee and her compassionate approach to fostering curiosity and empathy through nature. Salyer, who gracefully depicts the birds soaring, captures both their movement and students' imaginations with beguiling patterns in a palette of rich azure, warm teal, and eye-popping copper tones. In one striking spread, illustrating the veery's night vision, a bird's eye overlaps with a child's, eyes closed, who thinks: "I have big, dark eyes, too." Appended with notes about tracking migrations, paying attention to birds in one's own neighborhood, and more. Julie Danielson

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2025
In Ms. Lee's class, students sit in darkness with their heads down on their desks, eyes closed, listening to recorded sounds of the rainforest. They imagine themselves as veeries, "sort of like robins but smaller." Their teacher narrates the birds' journey, starting in Brazil and ending in the class's home of Wisconsin. One child, drawn into the lesson, narrates the quiet text, but Fleischman also provides glimpses into other students' thoughts as they find parallels between the veeries' story and their own lives. (The veery feels "jumpy and can't sit still"; one child thinks, "That's just what my mom said about me last night.") They learn about the birds' flight patterns, biology, and eating habits, as well as weather influences, human-made dangers, and threats from predators: "Schoolkids have bullies. Veeries have raptors. Except raptors eat you." Students and teachers alike will be inspired by Ms. Lee and her compassionate approach to fostering curiosity and empathy through nature. Salyer, who gracefully depicts the birds soaring, captures both their movement and students' imaginations with beguiling patterns in a palette of rich azure, warm teal, and eye-popping copper tones. In one striking spread, illustrating the veery's night vision, a bird's eye overlaps with a child's, eyes closed, who thinks: "I have big, dark eyes, too." Appended with notes about tracking migrations, paying attention to birds in one's own neighborhood, and more.

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)