First published 2018
Leigh Chen Sanders knows with absolute certainty that her mother transformed into a bird when she died by suicide. Half Asian and half white, Leigh flies to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. She plans to find her mother in bird form. Her search leads her through encounters with ghosts and buried family secrets as she builds connections with her grandparents. Leigh struggles with crushing guilt. On the same day she finally kissed Axel, her best friend and secret love, her mother ended her life. The story moves between reality and magic, shifting from past to present as Leigh navigates friendship, first romance, and overwhelming grief. Through exploring her family history and creating art, Leigh begins to understand herself and process her loss.
Genres: grief, contemporary, magical-realism, young-adult, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Taiwan
480 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness, suicide