A Gift from the Birds (Caroline Stills, Text)

A Gift from the Birds is the first middle-grade novel by picture book author Caroline Stills. Winner of the 2024 Text Prize – and the final recipient before the prize was discontinued – this sensitive, bittersweet novella follows Millie, a creative and emotionally intelligent 10-year-old girl whose friendship with a family of crows helps her cope with her mother’s illness and death. When Millie’s mum collapses at her birthday party and is rushed to the hospital, the hope they held for recovery begins to fade. Millie’s dad, distant and consumed by grief, is unable to offer the support she needs, so she befriends two crows in the backyard who leave small gifts on the porch in exchange for food. The unexpected comfort and wonder of this friendship becomes a lifeline for Millie through the confusion and sadness of this coming-of-age experience. Though the story centres on grieving, Stills (The House of 12 Bunnies) has written a gentle, hopeful book grounded in courage, love and the healing presence of the natural world. The father-daughter relationship, reshaped by loss, evolves with subtlety and tenderness. With simple, age-appropriate language and thoughtfully developed themes, A Gift from the Birds is a nuanced debut and introduction to death and grief for readers aged 8–10. It sits alongside Karen Foxlee’s Lenny’s Book of Everything and Aleesah Darlison’s Grace the Amazing.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer who has worked as a bookseller and museum educator. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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