When the other kids mock her at recess, Nanette doesn’t
listen. She’d rather focus on puddles, spider webs, and
whatever she can create with her hands. One day a boy
named Noah—who’d rather fly paper airplanes than listen to the lesson—starts sitting at Nanette’s table. At first, Noah finds Nanette confusing and a little frustrating. But her ideas look like so much fun…
Nanette mixes ham into her fruit yogurt.
She can sit for hours, gazing at a spider’s web.
Even though there’s no spider.
She rocks back and forth, to and fro,
fluttering her fingers like butterflies.
At school, the kids are nasty and cruel. “Hey, you! You got a brain in that skull?Or are you just stupid and dull?”
But Nanette doesn’t listen.
She looks down and mutters:
“Skull, dull, seagull.”
Noah sits beside Nanette. He’s annoyed.
He pushes her out of irritation.
Scritch! The sparrow she was drawing is all messed up.
“Oh,” whispers Nanette. “He won’t fly anymore.”
“But birds in drawings don’t fly,” says Noah, getting angry. “The drawing doesn’t fly, the bird does,” says Nanette softly.
A Head Full of Birds
Written by Alexandra Garibal
Illustrated by Sibylle Delacroix
Translated by Vineet Lal
Releases: 10/18/2022
A school story to encourage friendship and understanding among children of all abilities.
Expressively illustrated in colored pencils, this school story
will foster discussions about navigating differences and
embracing creativity. A Head Full of Birds is a sensitive portrayal of neurodiverse friendships and the joy that comes when we reimagine the world together.
