The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor

by Amy Alznauer, Ping Zhu (Illustrator)

"I intend to stand firm and let the peacocks multiply, for I am sure that, in the end, the last word will be theirs." --Flannery O'Connor

When she was young, the writer Flannery O'Connor was captivated by the chickens in her yard. She'd watch their wings flap, their beaks peck, and their eyes glint. At age six, her life was forever changed when she and a chicken she had been training to walk forwards and backwards were featured in the Pathé News, and she realized that people want to see what is odd and strange in life. But while she loved birds of all varieties and kept several species around the house, it was the peacocks that came to dominate her life. Written by Amy Alznauer with devotional attention to all things odd and illustrated in radiant paint by Ping Zhu, The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor explores the beginnings of one author's lifelong obsession.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, Childrens, Nonfiction, Art, Animals, History

64 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2020

Reviews

[Mackey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow! As a life long fan of Flannery O’Connor and her brilliant and, yes, odd work, I had to read this book!

“I intend to stand firm and let the peacocks multiply, for I am sure that, in the end, the last word will be theirs.” —Flannery O’Connor

The story itself is based on O’Connor’s fascination/obsession with the odd bird or two or ten. Featured in many of her writings, peacocks, chickens who performed tricks and many more, were an important part of her life and actually led to her interest in writing as well, particularly about those who might seem different to most readers.

This is for young readers so the writing is simple but not silly. The illustrations are absolutely stunning and what an marvelous introduction for children to one of the best writers the US has known. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Flannery O'Connor, one of the very best short story writers of all time. She was devoutly Roman Catholic, which she connected to the southern grotesque literary tradition. Some people who have no religious background find her stories bizarrely Christian, which they are! But to me --one raised in a strict religious (Dutch Protestant) environment, they are not only not off-puttingly strange, but strangely thrilling. Many of her stories also feature birds--ducks, guinea hens, though particularly chickens and peacocks.

Last year I found a book of cartoons O'Connor had done throughout her short life (she died of Lupus at 39), and in this book we learn more about her drawing at an early age birds of all kinds. She especially loved peacocks and raised them on her family farm in Milledgeville, Georgia.

She "knew that the peacock had been the bird of Hera, the wife of Zeus, but since that time it had probably come down in the world.”

“Whut is that thang?” one of the boys asked.
“Churren,” the old man said, “that’s the king of the birds!”

The priest calls the peacock a “beauti-ful” bird with a “tail full of suns."

In "The Displaced Person" O’Connor underscores a woman’s blindness to the bird by describing how the peacock “jumped into the tree and his tail hung in front of her, full of fierce planets with eyes that were each ringed in green and set against a sun. . . She might have been looking at a map of the universe but she didn’t notice it any more than she did the. . . sky." O'Connor thought that the second coming of Christ would be like the peacock in full glory.

Mathematician Amy Alznauer wrote the story here, which I especially love when she quotes O'Connor:

When her beloved Dad died of Lupus, she wrote, "death wakes you up, like a wound in the side"
(--that bizarre way grief can lead to wonder).

But the illustration from Ping Zhu--her first book???!!--is just wonderful. The book is said to be for children 4-8, but it is clearly all ages, because no child that age would read her stories or know about her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2bSq...

More on Peacocks and O'Connor:

https://bittersoutherner.com/obituary...

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Especially prepared for highly intelligent adults and precocious children.
(Quote from Flannery O'Connor's 'Mistaken Identity' and found on title page)

This gorgeous new picture book biography has a promising cover hinting at the beauty inside. Ever since she was a little girl, Flannery O'Connor was in love with birds. She drew endless drawings of the chickens on their farm including a sketch her father kept in his pocket in which Flannery is a stick figure flying up above the world and looking down at people and birds. An photo of the sketch is included in the notes at the end of the book. Flannery O'Connor loved living in Georgia and was homesick for her farm in birds when she was away for college and the Writer's Workshop in Iowa. After being diagnosed with lupus she returned to the farm and added peacocks to the menagerie in Milledgeville. O'Connor was an American treasure who was taken away from us too soon. What a treat to have this book to help tell her story and keep her alive in our imaginations.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reasons why this book works are many, but here are two: it's written by someone with a deep love for O'Connor's work, and the illustrations are as bold and shocking as O'Connor's characters. I liked the regular mentions of O'Connor's faith, the steady theme of birds in her life, and the quotations/allusions to her writing. For an author like O'Connor, her picture book biography needs to reflect her own oddness, and this one does that so well. Teared up at the end. Highly recommended.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. 🥰

Beautifully illustrated.

Written by a Flannery fan, which is fitting.

Makes me want to know more about the subject. I’ve only read a couple of her short, disturbing stories and was, well, disturbed. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Recommended.

[Emily Liebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to make an exception of a children’s book for my Goodreads lists because this book was GORGEOUS. I loved seeing all of the beautiful oddities in Flannery and her work through her love of marvelous and strange birds. Any lover of hers would also enjoy this. There was something really comforting about taking all of the breadth of her works and the strangeness in them and centering it in a quirky and creative childhood.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge, huge, huge fan of Flannery O’Connor, so clearly I would love this book. The illustrations are fantastic, and the whole book gives a sense of Flannery strangeness right along with her wild imagination. A great tool to teach kids about how to see things differently.

[Regine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evokes the strangeness that fascinated and inspired Flannery O’Connor.

[Heidi]

The book is fantastic though I left off a star because I still can't decide whether I loved the illustrations or not. I appreciate the artistic talent but something about them in this particular biography was just, off-putting. Not in a quirky, interesting way but a strangely, almost too whimsical sort of way instead. I found myself loving some of them and downright hating other pages. Of course this is only my opinion and this story of the indomitable, tireless (not physically, mind you) writer makes the book absolutely worth adding to your library. It's now ready to be wrapped and put under the tree for my youngest reader for Christmas.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, I knew nothing of Flannery O'Connor before opening up this book, and wow! I adore her story! As a fellow bird-lover and child-outcast, her strong affinity for birds really hit a personal spot for me. On top of that, she seems so down to earth and frank. The illustrations in this biography are also marvelous-- I love the shapes of all the different birds, and the colors choices are a delight.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. What an incredibly fascinating human being. I'm grateful to have learned about her for the first time in this beautiful medium!

[Mrs. Mazzola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and quirky biography of Flannery O'Connor told through her love of birds. The writing feels like it is intended for an older audience, which does not match this format. Will not be adding to my collection at this time.

*Thank you to Edelweis+ and the publisher for a digital copy. All opinions are my own.*

[Cara Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wondrous, beautiful celebration of O'Connor's life and stories, perfect for adults and children alike. My 6-year-old loved the stories about her birds and I appreciated the messages about death and idiosyncrasies. The book itself is extra large, making the colorful art even more eye-catching.

[Michelle Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

We enjoyed this picture book on the life of Flannery O'Connor. It focused on aspects of her childhood and desire to look at the strangeness in life, and even touched on how she could write on the darkness in the world and hope for transformation. I enjoyed reading this, and it inspired me to read more on her works, and my children enjoyed learning about a famous American author from not too long ago!

[Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sweet, beautiful look at the childhood and later development of Flannery O'Connor. It is a great author-introduction for children who are too young to encounter her work. While offering a basic biographical sketch of O'Connor's life through her love and interaction with birds, Alznauer subtly weaves in elements of her themes as a storyteller. The pictures are lovely, strange, and appropriate for a book about Flannery. This is definitely a book to own.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One should never speak to children like they are idiots. Amy Alznauer’s writing IS intended for an older audience but at the same time she is refusing to insult the intelligence of children. I loved this book. Everything about it is really needed right now. It gives children and adults the permission to be weird in an age when odd is not good. I’m giving this is as a gift to every new mom I know for the rest of my life. Ping Zhu’s drawings are stunning. Even as an adult, I loved her subtlety and nuance. This should be a classic. And again, please stop with the idiot baby talk to your children. Keep in mind The Hobbit was written for young children and there are adults today who cannot read it. Aim higher.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor by Amy Alznauer and Ping Zhu is a fascinating book that will appeal to children and to fans of O'Connor.

As a children's book the story is both interesting and empowering. I am assuming that a parent or adult reading this to small children use books to educate which means there will be context given to anything out of the norm for that child. Someone mentioned the chicken being killed, it isn't exactly graphic and there are far worse things taking place in Disney stories, so as long as this isn't being used in place of interaction but as a supplement to interaction, there is nothing here to be worried about. Put the bubble wrap away, your kid will be fine.

While you won't want to find O'Connor's stories and start reading them all to your 6 year old, this may just put the idea of reading stories into their mind. O'Connor's childhood makes for an interesting and positive story that can speak to children (and many of us adults). Different is just that, different. Yet even in our differences we share many similarities. What we do may be different but why we do them is usually a common motivator for all of us. We can find many lessons here to expand on, and the story will keep the child's interest.

I recommend for those who take the time to read to/with their children and, even more important, talk with their children. Knowing that someone who became famous and successful had an early life like this can only be an empowering concept for a young mind. Unless we as adults find ways to soil it.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.

[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit I did not know much about Flannery O'Connor's life, much less her childhood, but this colorful book was very informative.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a strange and beautiful book, which I suppose is suitable! The illustrations are just gorgeous, the quotes are well-utilized, and the overall effect is nicely odd.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A biography of Flannery O’Connor that uses her love of birds as the thread that ran consistently through her life. Beginning when she was 5, with chickens, until the end of her short life, when she raised peacocks. O’Connor apparently thought of her birds on an individual basis, less for the type of bird they represented and more for the individual quirkiness within each bird that caught her eye, be it in their looks or behavior. She sought out and sympathized with the oddball—as she herself had been since a young girl: scorned and nagged by her mother for being pigeon-toed, possessed of a snarky sense of humor unappreciated by the nuns who taught her, and—as the Lupus kicked in that would eventually kill her—needing arm braces to help her walk.

Although this is marketed as a children’s book, it seems to me that a more receptive audience would be middle-schoolers—early teens used to reading comics and graphic novels, who would be interested in reading non-fiction—a biography such as this, for example—if it’s presented in a form they’re used to and that keeps their attention. And I think this book would interest early teens: Alznauer shows O’Connor talking back to authority figures (her mother and teachers), losing the father who loved her eccentricities, being routinely berated by her mother for her posture and walking, feeling like an outcast among her peers and teachers, and developing a debilitating disease—yet, from childhood, gladly willing and able to put much of her waning energy and devotion into writing stories: “[S]he could always find some hidden strangeness, making it beautiful and funny and sad all the same time.” (I won’t say that Zhu’s illustrations are sad, but they are certainly beautiful and funny, and do well at conveying a sense of imagination in a variety of moods.)

The end of the book provides the titles of books by O’Connor and about her, and links to websites devoted to the little Georgia towns she lived in, as well as her manuscripts. These references and the emotional complexities of her inner life suggested by the details of Alznauer’s incline me think the book’s real audience is older than the label “children’s lit” might suggest. Teen years are a great time to discover O’Connor, her cast of strange characters, and her scathing humor and thumb-nosing at social hypocrisies.

[Cozbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lush and fully engaging. I ordered a copy online, so the first surprise was the book's size and the vibrancy of it's cover. The production value is extremely high, so the book's heft and the quality of the paper with each page turn, is an experience in itself. The colors are vibrant and remarkably reproduced. The text sits at the bottom of the pages, never interfering with the illustrator's clever interpretations- and ring with all the richness, humor and truth of Flannery O'Connor's life as a child while touching on her development as writer. The language of Amy Alznauer's account is moving and deeply personal. Reading this book is no different than being taken by the hand, blindfolded and opening up your eyes to find yourself in the most magical of places. The sort of place that takes your breath away. Had to wait for my 11 year old to fall asleep the night of its arrival to have a turn at reading it. A delight!

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A startling and beautiful children's picture book on the life of Flannery O'Connor. Age appropriate, but with an elevated tone. A gentle introduction to Flannery O'Connor for budding young readers, especially catholic girls ages 4 - 7. There are brief references to Flannery attending mass and being with a priest at her death.

The book with large artistic illustrations contains opportunities for silliness and engagement with your child. It also provoked some meaningful side conversations with my children as it also contained references to challenging issues from Flannery's life (her relationship with her mother, her father's death, suffering from Lupus). There was also an odd reference to killing chickens by snapping their neck.

This inspired book was truly fun to explore with my daughter. It is the kind of book you can re-visit multiple times in meaningful ways.

I would love to own this book. It is a great gift for the budding young female catholic reader/writer in your life.

[Becky Filipek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the bold artwork, and the focus on Flannery and her birds. The story does mention how she went to mass, and died with a priest by her side, but it isn't until the biographical sketch in the back that it states she held a devout Catholic faith. Her faith was the center of her life and her written work, so I would have liked that to be more concrete in the story than just, "you can almost hear her saying, 'death is far too strange a thing to be all there is.'" No, she herself said that the primary duty of a Christian is to be prepared for death.

This book is a fun, colorful way to introduce children to Flannery's life, however, and I'm happy to add it to my collection of O'Connor books. Also, it's a little more than 12" × 12", which is larger than I expected, so the artwork is big and colorful.

[Arminzerella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange birds make for a strange book. While this book makes no commitment to providing a complete picture of its subject (Flannery O'Connor), readers who are unfamiliar with the author and her life will not come away feeling like they know her much better. Her character and personality - strong-willed and delighted by strange things - comes through, but you don't get a sense of her "strange" writing (maybe some quotations would have helped?), or what her life was like. The images used throughout are bright and eye-catching, but don't always go along with the text/words that accompany them. After reading this I was more curious about how lupus - the disease that both Flannery and her father succumbed to - presents and affects people.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thrilled to find a children’s book about one of my favorite writers. This book was charming and put into words some of the main themes of Flannery O’Connor’s writing without being too dark for young readers. I was disappointed that this book ignores O’Connor’s faith. O’Connor claimed, “For me, the meaning of life is centered in our redemption by Christ and what I see in the world I see in its relation to that.” A Christ-less explanation of her writing won’t do. Still, I enjoyed reading this book with my niece and nephews.

[This book does deal with some of the dark events of Flannery’s own life, the death of her father and her own chronic disease. Parents whose children read this book should be prepared to talk about these themes.]

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not know Flannery O'Connor, so this entire tale of her early life was both surprising and delightful. The interest in birds, particularly chickens, had me thinking of Barn 8, which is unrelated in all other respects. But O'Connor is portrayed as an interesting and unique child who grew into an interesting and unique woman even as she had to slow down to deal with her lupus diagnosis. She was a writer (and now I must add her to my to-read list), and by all accounts a good one.

The illustrations echo O'Connor's bird and flight obsession, as well as her colorful and interesting personality.

[Kari Percival · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so you know that thing where they say more kids need to see themselves in books? Well, reading "The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor," with my 9 year old, we had to pause at each page and I'd say " I don't know ANYONE like that," and my son would giggle madly for a long time, and then we would turn the page and it would happen again. Over and over. He felt seen. It was like Amy Alzauer had written the book about him.

This is why we love picture book biographies. To get windows into the magical weirdness into other people from the past and their weird lives. Especially their childhood lives, if the information can be found. And this book is just fantastic. Thank you, Amy! I'm just stopping here.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing and illustrations; honestly, I think the team of Alznauer and Zhu is perfect. My only qualm with the text of this book comes with narrator's thoughts about "hack[ing] a [chicken's] head off," which comes with a small explanation. However, I feel like the concept was not conveyed in such a way that I would feel comfortable using that page to teach children about this fabulous writer. The rest of the book is beautiful, smart, and quirky. I would recommend a bit of context, or perhaps an audience on the older side of the suggested age range for this book.

[Amanda Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those picture books that makes me ask, who is this for? The open talk about death - chickens with their heads cut off or a parent and then the main character makes me hesitate before reading it to primary students. Would they know who Flannery was? Would they remember the experience of reading this book before finding out who she was or reading one her works? Does it matter? I haven't even read one of her books, but I kind of liked this book. I think it's strange, but some kid might come along and like it too.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fabulously unique picture book biography for a fairly strange subject matter for a children's book. Like many, I best know Flannery O'Conner for her short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" which absolutely traumatized me in college. So I was unsure what we could learn about F.O.C. that would be... not... that? I was pleasantly surprised, then, by this book filled with stunning oversized spreads and a peek into the life of a charmingly eccentric woman.