Homeless Bird

Newbery Medal Award Winner 2000

Citation:

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan. (Harper Collins Publishing, 2000). 186p. Contemporary Realism Junior Book.

Summary:

Koly, a young girl in India, is bound by the traditions imposed upon her until one day with a twist of fate her life is forever changed.

Critique:

a.         The story that Koly tells draws the reader in, so that the reader can understand her hopes, dreams, fears, and emotions.

b.         Koly’s story is shared by Koly herself which allows the reader to hear her thoughts and experience her feelings as her life unfolds.  Using Koly as the storyteller, it implores the reader to suffer her disappointments and hope for some happiness.

c.         “If there were such cruelness in the world, then it might indeed be true that Sass had taken me to this place of widows just to get rid of me” (p.107) advises the reader the alone feeling that Koly was feeling.  “This time as I embroidered, I thought only of my own joy” (p.178) allows the reader’s heart to fill will happiness for Koly’s joy.

Curriculum Connection:  

Homeless Bird would be best used when discussing cultural differences and traditions.  It is also a coming of age story for a teenage girl that could be used to create a Venn Diagram of similarities and differences to a typical American teenage girl.