The sequel to the award-winning Book Uncle and Me features bird lover Reeni and her quest to save her city’s bird count event when the mayor tries to shut it down.
Reeni is wild about birds! So when she and her best friend, Yasmin, have to pick a survey topic for a school project, asking their neighbors what they know about birds is an obvious choice. They are shocked to learn that no one — not one single person! — has heard about Bird Count India and the major event it is about to launch all over the country. Thousands of birdwatchers will be out counting birds as part of a global movement. Global means world, and isn’t this city part of the world? How come people don’t seem to care about the threats to city birds? And why is the mayor intentionally thwarting their city’s bird count event?
Reeni and Yasmin enlist help from Book Uncle, Reeni’s family and even their school bus driver. They must get people interested in the bird count, get them to ask the city government to support the event. After all, what’s good for the birds is good for all of us … right?
A funny, triumphant story about learning to advocate for both the human and non-human inhabitants of your community.
Key Text Features
chapters
dialogue
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
The sequel to the award-winning Book Uncle and Me features bird lover Reeni and her quest to save her city’s bird count event when the mayor tries to shut it down.
Reeni is wild about birds! So when she and her best friend, Yasmin, have to pick a survey topic for a school project, asking their neighbors what they know about birds is an obvious choice. They are shocked to learn that no one — not one single person! — has heard about Bird Count India and the major event it is about to launch all over the country. Thousands of birdwatchers will be out counting birds as part of a global movement. Global means world, and isn’t this city part of the world? How come people don’t seem to care about the threats to city birds? And why is the mayor intentionally thwarting their city’s bird count event?
Reeni and Yasmin enlist help from Book Uncle, Reeni’s family and even their school bus driver. They must get people interested in the bird count, get them to ask the city government to support the event. After all, what’s good for the birds is good for all of us … right?
A funny, triumphant story about learning to advocate for both the human and non-human inhabitants of your community.
Key Text Features
chapters
dialogue
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — Aug 6, 2024 |
| Specifications | 184 pages | 5 in x 7.5 in 184 pages | 5 in x 7.5 in |
| Keywords | Indian culture and heritage; Indian culture and heritage; national identity; stories from around the world; birding and ornithology; hobbies; family and family relationships; friendship; girl power; girls in STEM; problem solving; working together; conflict resolution; asking for help; feeling ignored; outdoor classroom; environmental literacy; renewable energy; solar panels; endangered species; environment and green issues; habitats and ecosystems; animals and wildlife; sustainability; urban life; |
|
Supporting Resources
(select item to download) |
Excerpt |
| Written By |
UMA KRISHNASWAMI was born in India and now lives in Victoria, BC. Her Book Uncle trilogy includes the bestselling Book Uncle and Me, winner of the ILA Social Justice Literature Award, Birds on the Brain and The Sunshine Project. Her picture books include Look! Look! and Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, both illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. She has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Uma is faculty emerita in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. |
| Illustrated by |
JULIANNA SWANEY has illustrated numerous books for children, including the first two books in the Book Uncle trilogy: Book Uncle and Me and Birds on the Brain, both written by Uma Krishnaswami. She spends her time at her home in Oregon painting, gardening and daydreaming. |
| Written By |
|
UMA KRISHNASWAMI was born in India and now lives in Victoria, BC. Her Book Uncle trilogy includes the bestselling Book Uncle and Me, winner of the ILA Social Justice Literature Award, Birds on the Brain and The Sunshine Project. Her picture books include Look! Look! and Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, both illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. She has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Uma is faculty emerita in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. |
| Illustrated by |
|
JULIANNA SWANEY has illustrated numerous books for children, including the first two books in the Book Uncle trilogy: Book Uncle and Me and Birds on the Brain, both written by Uma Krishnaswami. She spends her time at her home in Oregon painting, gardening and daydreaming. |
| Audience | ages 8 to 12 / grades 3 to 7 |
| Reading Levels | Lexile 620L |
| Key Text Features | chapters; dialogue; illustrations |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6 |
Winner, City of Victoria Children's Book Prize, 2025
Nominated, Forest of Reading Silver Birch Express Award, 2025
Commended, USBBY Outstanding International Books List, 2025
Commended, Cooperative Children's Book Center, CCBC Choices, 2025
“Birds on the Brain is a fast-moving, intricately woven, and largely theme-driven novel ... This book could prove both enriching and empowering.” — CM: Canadian Review of Materials
“Themes of friendship, community, and global well-being run through this slender, quick-paced story.” — Children's Literature Comprehensive Database