Brown Bird

by Jane Arthur

Eleven-year-old Rebecca tries to make herself invisible so people won’t call her weird. Resigned to spending the holidays by herself in a new neighbourhood while her mum works long hours at the supermarket, she meets Chester, who has come to stay for the summer. He is loud and fun and full of ideas.

But will Rebecca be able to cope with being taken so far from her quiet comfort zone?Rebecca is about to find out that she can be braver than she ever thought possible . . .

A gentle, warm-hearted novel about leaving the comfort of your shell and making friends, for fans of Judy Blume, Jacqueline Wilson, Kate DiCamillo and Kate de Goldi.

Genres: Family

208 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 30, 2024

About the author

Jane Arthur was the recipient of the Sarah Broom Poetry Prize in 2018, judged by Eileen Myles. She has worked in the book industry for over fifteen years as a bookseller and editor. She has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the IIML at Victoria University of Wellington. Born in New Plymouth, she lives in Wellington with her family and dogs.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it when poets write prose. What they say and what they don't say is just different from how other authors tackle things. There's space in the sentences here that you don't often see in children's books. Nothing's overwritten. Nothing's undercooked. It's just beautiful. And I really hope that Jane will write more for children (and adults too but).

[Wendy Bamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely NZ based book for Judy Blume type readers. A gentle story about a quiet girl who finds a friend for the summer and learns to open up a bit.

[whatbooknext · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca is shy. Really shy. She’s not sure why, and she wishes she was more like the kids at school. They can make friends easily, playBrown Bird Book Review Cover together in the school grounds, and enjoy being there. Rebecca finds all those things difficult, overthinking everything and missing opportunities. She feels like her brain is going a hundred miles an hour, but her body just stands still waiting for her brain to decide what to do. Even at night, her brain is racing and she wonders if she is the weirdest eleven year old ever.

It’s the summer school holidays. Six weeks of sunshine, quiet, books and baking stretch out before her and she is really looking forward to it. With her mum working, Rebecca will spend her time next door at Tilly’s, doing all her favourite things.


The holidays were going to be great

Already I felt lighter, like when you stop trying not to sink, stop fighting the water and instead suddenly you float.


Tilly is kind and understands Rebecca and her shyness, but she also has a surprise for her. Tilly’s nephew is coming to stay.

Chester is loud. He’s cheerful, always moving, always starving and needs to be doing something or planning it. When he decides to begin a odd-job service including them both, Rebecca gets swept up in it. She has always looked at the ground when passing any of the neighbours, but she slowly lifts her gaze to meet a wonderful mix of people via Chester’s enthusiasm.

These summer holidays are to be very different. Rebecca learns about her neighbours, herself and that Chester’s constant cheer is hiding something. By the time school returns, Rebecca doesn’t feel so weird after all.


Brown Bird is a gentle story of a girl who feels like she will never fit in. She can’t understand how people can be confident among strangers, enjoy lots of people around or make snap decisions, even if she wishes she was more like them.

I really enjoyed this story of a tween in small town New Zealand, in day to day life. Having her quiet, calm, and perfectly wonderful boring plans tipped on their head is the catalyst for Rebecca to wrangle some of her anxiety, and feel brave enough to lift her gaze to her world. She also learns more about herself as others instantly accept her for who she is, and she meets another, just as shy.

Brown Bird made me think a little of the classic Because of Winn Dixie as a girl is growing up, and a community comes together.

Thanks to Penguin Random House NZ for the ARC of this book.

Age - 9+

[T.K. Roxborogh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brown Bird would have been the book I’d have written at 11 if I could write books at that age.

It would have been the book I’d have given to my eldest when she was 11 if it had been around 20 years ago – instead she got Judy Blume and Jacqueline Wilson – which did the job that ‘Brown Bird’ does way better. Why? Apart from the seamless weaving of things and people that make our home in this world unique?

Everything, absolutely everything about this novel is perfect – exactly as it needs to be: the incredible attention to (fascinating) detail; the characterisation of each of the people who live in the story; the development outwardly and inwardly of the narrator, Rebecca. The tone, the style, the touches of humour, of inclusiveness, of everydayness, of the ordinary and extraordinary – all of it perfect.

Maybe I loved it also because I saw myself so clearly in Rebecca’s thoughts (but also in Chester’s Tasmanian devil energy); I saw my daughters. I saw the kids I’ve taught. Jane has given voice and power to so many who move through our world, slightly off-frequency.

The conversation between Rebecca and her mum on page 171 and 172 had me sobbing. That could have been me talking to my girls. It should have been a trusted adult talking to me at 11.

Advice I would have given to my eldest: “My worry isn’t that you have big feelings. It’s that I hope you’ll learn to give yourself room within them.”

Advice I would have given to my youngest: “I hope you’ll learn to care about yourself as much as you care about others.”

Advice I need to give to myself: ‘you’re… exactly the type of person the world needs – someone who cares deeply about actions and reactions, who puts other people at the centre of every step you take.’

Jane, thank you for writing this. I put it up there in the ‘literary’ category with Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These or David Almond’s The Island but Brown Bird is WAY BETTER (also, you’re a dream to listen to on the radio unlike some others. lol)

As I said, I read the first two chapters to my husband and he laughed out loud. Then he said that the world you describe and the characters of Chester and Rebecca would inhabit happily the world of Charlie Tangaroa. I love thinking that your characters and mine (and perhaps Rachael King’s characters in The Grimmelings) are hanging out together on a different/other worldly plain, complaining about us but in a loving tolerant manner.

[lucy black · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was an adolescent I was almost always uncomfotable in some way. People confused and tired me, my skin didn’t fit and I never knew my place in a conversation, a room, my family, the world. The most frustrating thing about my situation was I couldn’t articulate it. I read a lot at that age -Judy Blume, Paula Danziger, M.E Kerr, trying to find other young people I could relate to. Kids who weren’t self assured, sporty and clean like my cousins and the girls in Dolly magazine. I wish I had been able to read Brown Bird.

Brown Bird by Jane Arthur perfectly and gently captures the otherness of being an unsure tween. The protagonist Rebecca, tells her story in a wavering and familiar voice. This is a coming of age for a character who would rather not thanks, coming of age sounds hard and Rebecca would rather be left alone to read or maybe watch muffins slowly rise in the oven.

The story follows Rebecca as she is reluctantly made to step out of her comfort zone by her boisterous neighbor Chester. They live on Mount Street, a whole small world that is expertly crafted by Arthur. Chester has charm and confidence and drags Rebecca into situations where she is required to speak to loud blokes, intimidating ex teachers and other well meaning but exhausting people that live on their street.

Brown Bird could have been a straightforward and slightly twee story of a young person who ‘learns to not be shy’ with the help of a ‘normal person’. I can see the Netflix mini series version of Brown Bird in which Rebeccas Mum meets a rich handsome neighbor and they no longer have to worry about the landlord! Where Rebecca gives a speach to her gathered community and talks about how Chester has taught her how to be confident.

I love that Jane Arthur didn’t write that version of Brown Bird. Instead she wrote a realistc, casually inclusive and slightly sad story where Rebecca melts down, Rebecca can’t cope, Mum is still poor, Roxy doesn’t come to the party and actually that’s all ok too. I relished the descriptions of nose bleeds, the nail chewing and other icky realities and how these balance with the way Rebecca leans on steady dog Marama and the small domestic tasks that calm her. Being a tween is hard and gross and that’s reflected well. Brown Bird is a visceral, discomforting but also tenderly beautiful account of turning 12.

Huge thanks to Penguin NZ for the review copy.

[Barnaby Haszard]

Rebecca's profound anxiety makes the pages vibrate, like all the worst moments and feelings of my childhood stretched out to cover weeks and months and years, the skin of a balloon that could pop at any moment. She has to learn that others have it rough, too, and that if she can understand she's not the only one in pain -- as acute and crippling as it is -- she may find it easier to relate to others, and in turn sense her pain dulling a little. A charming, challenging, good-natured book, intent on progressive ideals and reducing the distance between us all.

[Derek Macleod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this is a children’s or young persons novel, the world perceived through the young eyes of Rebecca and her friend Chester. It rides along on the honest and unpretentious observations about coping with life and relationships which has its magical and humorous moments. Overall though I found the story underwhelming. For me it deserved a little more depth and a narrative that got in underneath the skin of some of those issues and questions asked by emerging teenagers.

[Maia Orsmby · Rating 5 out of 5]

So amazing for young readers like me when I this book for the first time I knew I had to read it so I did I fell in love with it it was one of the best books I've ever read and for Christmas I got a copy of it I was so happy I had been wanting a copy for a whole year it got on the best books for young readers 2025 and that made me want to even more amazing book recommend a lot and I live in NZ what does makes it so amazing for me

[Cheryll · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book every primary school library should have on it's shelf. Rebecca is very shy and finds it difficult to fit in with people - then she befriends Chester and things start to look brighter. A lovely New Zealand story.

[Kate McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh!! 😭 This is beautiful!

[Julia Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful. Gentle. Real.

[Melanie Lindstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet book that would appeal to introverted children.

[Kerryn Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet story of a young girl figuring out how to be comfortable just as you are. There is a lot packed in to this book but the heart of the story is friendship.

[Nell Ewens · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely slice of life told by a neuro-divergent 11 year old. light read with deep meaning.

[Maia Ormsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

does book is amazing I would really recommend it for young readers is my favourite book ever now the book is so interesting

[Lydia Lalish · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh, but I can relate very much

[Sarah Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An delightful easy read by NZ author Jane Arthur. A lovely, gentle story with diverse characters, friendship and about feeling different. A quick read on a damp Wellington afternoon, thoroughly enjoyable. Would make a lovely read aloud for Y5-8.