Dead Birds Singing

by Marc Talbert

This is an Authors Guild/BIP title. Please use Authors Guild/BIP specs.Author's Talbert has written many books for young readers, several of them published in seven foreign countries. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Tesque, New in Japan, Great Britain, Spain, Norway, and Denmark, Dead Birds Singing has won numerous awards in the United States and abroad.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Angela Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was very young and it was one of the only tools I had to help me cope with losing my mother at such a young age (10 years old.) Surely by now there are more recently written and therefore modern books to help children who are grieving, but this book is a classic and I'm grateful for its appearance on my path when I needed it most some 30 years ago.

[Gary Beene · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Marc Talbert was a 5th grade teacher in Iowa, one of his students was killed in a drunk driving accident. Marc struggled to help his students cope with the young girl’s death and in doing so, became determined to write a book to help other children who may be going through a similar tragedy. The result is the extraordinary novel, DEAD BIRDS SINGING.

The story revolves around seventh grader Matt who has just won a big race at a swim meet. On their way home in a snow storm, their car is hit by a drunk driver, killing his mother instantly and leaving his sister in a coma. Matt wakes up in the hospital with an injured shoulder and goes to stay with his best friend’s family. Desperate for his sister, he finally is able to see her, lifeless and hooked up to machines. She slips away only weeks later. Despite his agonizing struggle with grief, anger and sadness, Matt slowly learns to forgive and find hope with is new family. Although written for middle grades, Marc Talbert’s remarkable story will resonate with all ages.

[Juan Vera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leí este libro de niño, no recuerdo ni de que iba pero por alguna razón recuerdo que me dejó marcado

[Caitlyn Beffa]

This is a really great book!

[papalbina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuando leí este libro estando en el colegio, con probablemente la misma edad que Matt, el protagonista, me impactó y me EN-CAN-TÓ. Era el primer libro de más de 100 páginas que leía en mi vida, y entre el tema y el esfuerzo, supongo que me emocioné.

No sólo no me gustó el tema, sino que tampoco me gusta como está tratado, ni la aproximación que toma el autor para solucionar la situación dramática. Se nota que era su primera obra y que eran los 80 porque es flojo, muy flojo. Tanto el protagonista como su amigo Jamie no suenan como niños, cuando hablan entre ellos. Los diálogos en general son bastante rígidos... La traducción no ayuda, porque tampoco está muy allá.

Si bien el personaje de Scott es interesante con sus reflexiones, me dejó bastante fría y Matt no llegó a caerme bien y en ningún momento llegué a empatizar con él ni con sus circunstancias (y bah, se ha muerto su madre, debería ser sencillo empatizar con algo así). La gracia es que recuerdo haber sufrido con él a los 13 años. Quizá simplemente sea que me he hecho mayor...

Hay libros que nunca deberías leer 20 años más tarde porque se te caen los mitos. Este es uno de ellos.

[Brenda Hyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a kid I was very active, athletic and thought I HATED reading. How boring! I fudged as many of my bookits as I could and did everything in my power to avoid reading or writing fiction (if it didn’t rhyme, I wasn’t interested). Until sometime in the 6th grade I checked this out from my rural Iowa school library, after a couple years of personal tragedy I can only presume made death a topic I was drawn to. (That part remains true, ha).

This is the book that made me understand the value of stories. This is the book that turned me into a reader. I still remember the impact it had and how ravenously I consumed it. Fully shocked a book could hold so much power and create a space for me. What more can I say about it? 5 stars 25+ years later.

I recently bought an old, used library hardbound copy, sentimentally.

[Madi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved how this book made me think that not everything in life is perfect one second your fine the next it's tragedy. This is the first book that I had cried in. It was sad in parts and happy in others I think this was a very well written book. Marc Talbert did a great job of how a kid goes through stuff like this.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very sad book, I would never recommend this for young adult readers. It won an Australian Award in that category . Well written but just so sad, I only read it because I thought the author was the same who wrote a book I had read many years ago and had liked. Not the same author.

[Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my very favorite books growing up and I identified with it so strongly. It gets 5 stars from me because it was such a big part of my life.

[Karla Brading · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was ten years old. it stayed with me in bursts of memory, so I had to revisit it. A second sitting almost 20 years later reminded me just how fantastic the writing was. A difficult subject. Sad yet full of light.