How to Make a Bird

A child imagines, designs, and builds a bird only to let it go and watch it soar through the clouds. . . Observant readers will catch subtle visual details that flesh out more of this lyrical, visually beguiling tale. This story, infused with an ethereal, wondrous tone, is for creative souls everywhere, those who know what it is to imagine something and to experience the joy of bringing it to life with care--and the bittersweet feeling of letting it go and moving on. . . Imaginatively stirring and altogether haunting, this one stays with you.

An elegant, confident voice narrates this gently uncanny second-person-perspective book, following a brown-haired, light-skinned child who builds a bird from scraps, watches it come alive, and sets it free. Living apparently alone in a haphazard, Studio Ghibli-esque building atop Dalí-like legs, the child gathers things into a basket from the beach below as the narrator relays the steps: collecting bones; smoothing feathers over them; and giving the bird a heart, extremities, a song. McKinlay's tone is stately, the pace deliciously deliberate--"But when you see it sitting, / cold as a statue, you will know/ that there is more to a bird than/ these things you have given it"--allowing space for readers to savor Ottley's luminous pigmented ink illustrations, which reveal extratextual details, for example about the child's bird-making materials. A beautiful rumination on creating. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)