Leigh Chen Sanders is convinced that her mother turned into a large red bird after dying by suicide. Driven by this belief, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. As she searches for the bird among the streets of Taipei, she uncovers long-buried family secrets and navigates her own complicated feelings for her best friend, Axel. The narrative moves between professional art studios and ancestral homes, using colors to illustrate Leigh’s shifting emotional states and her evolving understanding of her heritage.
Young adult readers interested in the intersections of grief and magical realism will find this story helpful for visualizing the weight of clinical depression and identity. The book provides a look at the complexities of being biracial and the difficulty of communicating across language barriers. Readers walk away with a specific vocabulary for mourning and an appreciation for how artistic expression and family history can sustain a person during a mental health crisis.
- Published
- 2018
- Language
- EN
