Skip to main content

DR. BIRD’S ADVICE FOR SAD POETS by Evan Roskos


copyright date: March 2013
primarily marketed for: young adults (high school)

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos begins “I yawp…” and ends, “Yawp!”  And if that isn’t enough to love, the middle is filled with quotes from Walt Whitman scattered amongst wise words from a pigeon therapist, and a story that is both genuinely funny and heartachingly real.  It is one of those stories that seems as if it was written simply for my own delight, but perhaps you, too, will fall in love with it.

James is a teenager who suffers from anxiety attacks and a depression that is possibly part of bipolar disorder, though no official diagnosis is named in the book.  His older sister was recently kicked out of the house by his emotionally detached parents after she is expelled from school for an outburst that resulted in a fight. 

As a means of coping with his mental state and the instability in his home life, James invents a pigeon therapist who listens to his deepest thoughts and fears.  He also finds comfort in quoting Walt Whitman, hugging trees, pursuing Beth (the adorable editor of the school literary magazine), and spending time with his only friend (who is both well-adjusted and burdened with problems of his own).

His story caused me to laugh out loud, though some of the language and humor is so mature that I will not admit which parts I found amusing.  The true strength of the story, though, is not its humor, but that it caused me bemoan the fact that this book was not around for me to have read when I was in high school and needed a story like this—a story that echoed the lives of so many of my friends. 

James is a flawed human living in a world that has no easy answers for him.  He is suicidal, his parents are oblivious at best, and although he does have supportive people in his life, the level of support he really needs is not easily accessible.  Luckily, James is the kind of person who can yawp when he needs to, and he is eventually able to save himself amidst his circumstances. 

Comments

  1. Linda BMarch 30, 2013 at 9:51 PM

    I haven't seen one of these posts in a while, or maybe I've been oblivious, Christy. The book sounds fun, and does sound great for high schoolers. I love your intro, hope a lot of your students read this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ShannonMarch 31, 2013 at 11:50 PM

    Well, you've got my attention!! I want to read this book. I've got to find out what yawp means. :)

    It sounds like a story that so many young people are living and possibly don't know they are. Any book that reaches me through laughter and tears is A-OK in my mind!

    Thanks for the recommendation.

    Shannon
    http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ONE FOR THE MURPHYS by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: intermediate readers (5 th grade and up) I sort of expected One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt to be one of those overly sappy books with unrealistic, sickeningly sweet characters.  However, although the storyline might make it sound sappy, the characters are realistic and dynamic.  After a traumatic incident that lands both she and her mother in the hospital, Carley Connors is taken away and placed in foster care with the Murphy family.  The only life Carley has known is one of put-downs, food scraps, and shopping for clothes in Salvation Army drop boxes.  Until she meets the Murphys.  The Murphys are too good to be true: Julia, the mom, happily makes home-cooked meals for her three boys and firefighting, sports-loving husband.  In fact, Julia isn’t even rattled by Carley’s rough around the edges attitude.  At first, Carley despises the Murphys and the way they make he...
4 comments
Read more

THE LITTLE PRINCE by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

copyright date: 1943 primarily marketed for: everyone The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupéry was a reread for me.   I read this book for the first time when I was in high school.   All I remembered about it was that I expected it to be too complex for me to understand, and I was surprised when at its charming simplicity.   I always remember feeling like I had a special place in my heart for The Little Prince , but I didn’t remember exactly why. It was written so long ago and is translated from French that it is no wonder I first expected to find its meaning elusive.   However, I am sure that if you pick up this book, it will nestle itself into a special place in your heart as well. Simply, The Little Prince is the story of a clever man who has never lost the child inside of himself and finds himself stranded in the desert after a plan crash.   In the desert, he happens upon the little prince who is traveling to earth from his d...
4 comments
Read more

ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE by Gabrielle Zevin

copyright date: September 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (8 th grade and up) I wish I would’ve known this was the beginning of a series before I started this book.   Then again, I might never have picked it up if I thought I might be committing to multiple books… At any rate, this is not a story I will be sad to return to this fall when the sequel is released.   Anya’s story takes place in New York City, in the future.   Around the time you will be old enough to be grandparents. This is a sort of post-apocalyptic, dystopian kind of book in a mild way.   Basically, the United States has self-destructed, and yet life seems to go surprisingly similar to the way we live nowadays.   Except that water and paper are costly and hard to come by.   Chocolate is prohibited.   Caffeine is an illegal drug.   Which is all to say that the setting alone is intriguing. Add to that setting, the fact that Anya is the oldest daughter of the ...
3 comments
Read more