The Bower Bird

Gussie #2

by Ann Kelley

Winner of the 2007 Costa award This title continues the story of Gussie, a precocious young girl diagnosed with a rare heart condition. Despite her health problems, she is determined to live life to the fullest, experiencing typical adolescent woes such as love and strained relations with her parents. Never complaining, she offers a direct and honest insight about herself and the world around her, bringing this poignant, charming and oddly optimistic tale to life. REVIEWS 'Brilliant' THE MAIL ON SUNDAY 'I'm pleased to be able to announce that Gussie has lived to see another day with Kelley capturing so beautifully Gussie's optimism and hope.' SUE BAKER'S PERSONAL CHOICE, PUBLISHING NEWS 'The world of life and death, beauty and truth seen through the eyes of a 12 year old girl. A rare and beautiful book of lasting quality - we felt this is a voice that needs to be heard and read.' COSTA AWARD JUDGES 'It's a lovely book - lyrical, funny, full of wisdom. Gussie is such a dear - such a delight and a wonderful character, bright and sharp and strong, never to be pitied for an instant.' HELEN DUNMORE, author of 'Ingo' BACK COVER Gussie is twelve years old, loves animals and wants to be a photographer when she grows up. The only problem is that she's unlikely to ever grown up. 'I had open heart surgery last year, when I was eleven, and the healing process hasn't finished yet. I now have an amazing scar that cuts me in half almost, as if I have survived a shark attack'. Gussie needs a heart and lung transplant, but the donor list is as long as her arm and she can't wait around that long. Gussie has things to do; finding her ancestors, coping with her parents' divorce and keeping an eye out for the wildlife in her garden.

196 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

Ann Kelley is the author of The Burying Beetle (shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award) and The Bower Bird (Winner of the Costa Children’s Book of the Year Award). She has also published two poetry collections, The Poetry Remedy (1999) and Paper Whites (2001). She has won several prizes for her poems and has run courses for aspiring poets from her home. She is an honorary teaching fellow at Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter and Plymouth. Her collected photographic works are Born and Bred (1988) and Sea Front (2005).

Reviews

[Sabrina Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a young girl named Gussie who needs a heart and lung transplant, she decides to focus on the things that are important to her like finding her ancestors, coping with her parents divorce and looking for wildlife. Anne Kelley perfectly capture the young optimism and hope in Gussie without her becoming too adult due to the severity of her condition which i think is very difficult to do. She also never gives you a character to pity, Gussie is strong, sharp and bright and fully about her own philposophy of living which makes it a delight to read at any age.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn' t realise that this was the sequel to the first in the series so I kind of started backwards. I think the best thing about this book was the setting and the description of it, Cornwall is a good place to set a book, I think. Also, I like the idea of photography for a book subject.

[Shubhangi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I wish I had know that there was a prequel befor egetting this out of the library. This book was so deep and moving, and I loved the ending! I want to know more.

[Carol Aldred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got totally emersed in this book.
It's the first-person account of a young girl growing up in Cornwall, wishing for her first kiss, that her mum and dad will get back together, and the search for relatives/family.
But she is waiting for a heart and lung transplant.
It is so in the moment, it completely swept me up and carried me away.
Brilliant

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember details, but I remember reading it in middle school and feeling strongly about various scenes as I read it.

Took me ages to find the book again, as I could only remember the image on the front cover, not the title or the author. Would love to read again and see what impression it causes on me now.

[Ruth P · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming,easy to read book that evoked really strong visual images of the Cornish scenes described.Whilst probably aimed at young adults it was nevertheless a book that I enjoyed and would recommend.A likeable simplicity and innocence to the book that makes a change from murder and mayhem!

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read, I liked the descriptions of nature and birds, but by about two thirds through I got a bit bored with it. However good to highlight, and get readers to think about, the need for organ donation, especially reading the author's background.

[danny (apokryfe) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hadn't realised this was part of a series when I first started it but works perfectly fine standalone. Very sweet. Nice and simple book to ease back into reading, for me.

[Froggy Kraken · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't very fond of this book. Honestly I didn't like it.
I didn't hate it enough to set fire to it but I will definitely not be reading this book ever again.
The Bower Bird was just so boring.

I had to force myself to sit down to read this:

I skiped quite a few pages in this book. I was going to stop reading it quite a few times but I don't like not finishing a book (if I started reading it then I have to finish it).
This book was given to me by a friend and it seems that, in giving me this book, she doesn't like me very much or it's that she was trying to get rid of it because it was crap.

This book was very well written, the book was very well described and very well detailed, the problem is that the actual story is rubbish. Nothing happened, it was all too slow for my taste.

Maybe I didn't like this book because I hadn't read the 1st book (I seriously doubt it). I honestly did not know this was a follow-up book when I started reading it (that's probably why I was so confused at the beginning).

Okay, it's not normally the type of book that I would read so that's probably why it didn't appeal to me. Maybe some people enjoyed this book, but come on! It was soo boring!!!
If you did enjoy this book, I have one thing to say to you:

[sisterimapoet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this - a pleasing return to the characters and place first met in The Burying Beetle. More of the same - simple, touching, sincere. It's YA books like this that give me hope that the young readers out there might be getting something good alongside their dystopian sagas and glittering vampires!

[EmiliaC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in St Ives Cornwall, it is a story of an 11 year old girl called Gussie, who needs a heart and lung transplant. Not a sad read but wasn't sure where the story was trying to go. Lovely to read about one of my favourite places in England.

[mezzogal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok. Nothing actually happens.

[Sue Batcheler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've started but I doubt I'll finish.
I didn't.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember bringing this book to school age 9 and being horrified to find the f word at the end of the first chapter and having to sub in a word when reading it aloud.

I didn't pick this book up again until I was about 12 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the slow pace of the book and the descriptions. I remember feeling very grown up reading this book.

I have only just seen from other reviews that this is a sequel which makes sense, but it works fine as a stand alone book too.