Moon, Sarah. Sparrow.

Moon, Sarah. Sparrow. Scholastic/Arthur Levine  2017   264p.            $18.99  ISBN 978-1-338-03258-1       ms/hs            Realistic Fiction          VG-BN         

Sparrow does not have friends and really doesn’t know how to make friends.  To escape the stress of life, she flies.  She sees birds and takes off with them in flight.  One day at school she is on the roof and it is assumed she wants to jump.  After a stay in the hospital, she is sent home on the condition that she meet with a therapist.  Sparrow is very slow to open up at all (and it takes 90 pages). The therapist is the most patient person on the planet.  Eventually Sparrow is open enough to try attending a camp for rock musicians.  Among other things, Sparrow learns that other girls have problems too, but they learn how to deal with them.
  

The writing is in the first person so the reader really knows what Sparrow is thinking.  The beginning leads the reader to think that Sparrow is weird, but as the story progresses the reader comes to sympathize with and better understand her.  The triumph Sparrow experiences at the end makes the whole story worthwhile.
  

Although every teenage girl feels disconnected at times in their teen years, it takes a mature reader to handle Sparrow’s thinking.  It may give hope to others who are feeling isolated, but some would not be able to cope with all of Sparrow's thoughts.  

Summary: To escape her social ineptness, Sparrow tunes out and flies.  The story concerns her learning to cope and improve very slowly with the help of a therapist.  About an eighth grader, but psychologically very deep.  Grade 7 up.                               

Shyness-Fiction, Social skills-Fiction                             --Joan Theal