Bird - A Cultural Reflection

Bird
Written by Zetta Elliott, Illustrated by Shandra Strickland
Ages 9-12
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Mehkai, called Bird, is a young boy trying to understand his brothers drug addiction and the death of loved ones.  He escapes in his art through which he can make sense of what is happening in his life.

When I was asked to find a picture book which mirrored my culture it was more difficult than I anticipated.  Being a middle class, white American from the Midwest, you would think it would be easy as this seems to be the targeted demographic of a large amount of childrens' literature.  However I realized that no single book could encompass every aspect of someones culture so I looked for a story that could accurately capture one aspect of my culture.  From when I was younger into my adult life my sister has has struggled with substance abuse.  Substance abuse is a prominent part of my culture inhabiting my family, friends and small town Iowa community.  It is a reality for many young children but a topic which is largely ignored in childrens' literature and certainly not commonly thought of as "cultural".  "Bird is one of the few picture books I found the addressed the subject and did so in a way I could relate to.  We use mirrors to validate our individual backgrounds and image (Allen, 2010) so we know; this is real, this matters, I am not alone and we can gain understanding of our world.  Bird is a complex and involved picture book in many ways is not a reflection of my culture as it centers around a young, African American boy living in a large city.  However it captures the confusion and anger of watching a family member suffer from addiction and not fully understanding what is happening.

Bird looks up to is big brother Marcus and they share everything.  Marcus helps Bird with his drawings and Bird understands Marcus' graffiti art.  Then Marcus becomes distant, defensive, angry and shows physical signs of addiction.  Bird says "the only people I ever say sweating and shaking like that were the crazy people in the park", people he had been told were "addicts" and "junkies" people to stay away from.  We see another part of Bird's culture, the homeless and addicts, people seen as "other" yet a reality that Bird sees everyday.  These people are never explained to him and when he sees this in his brother he cannot make the connection between the two experiences.  He does not want to think of his brother as an addict.  He does not know how to take in this information and as Marcus gets worse (stealing and being kicked out of their home) he does not know how to fix the problem so he becomes angry and frustrated and turns to his drawing where he has control and can fix things with his eraser.  I felt the exact same way with my sister, I was in denial about the situation because I cold not see her as an "addict" so I ignored it and did not talk about it with my family.  When asked why she wrote the book Elliott responded, "Children are open: they see, and hear, and feel things, just like adults; but they don’t have access to the same information, and they can’t process that information in the same way. I understand the impulse to protect children from difficult subject matter, but sometimes our efforts to shield children actually silence kids instead".

Elliott and Strickland do a wonderful job of showing how Bird turns to other culutral outlets to make sense of what is happening.  Bird's drawings are the background illustrations and we see him drawing his surroundings; a church, birds, street corners and get a visual understanding of the geography of his culture which children who live in a large city would see themselves in.  Bird spends a lot of time with his grandfather who tells him about flying in the war and slavery folktales.  The historical background is another example of how culturally encompassing the story is rather than creating a narrow image of Bird's world.  There are many aspects of the book which are different from my culture however this allowed me to connect with Bird on one level and still learn about another culture.  It also shows that even though our cultures' are different we are similar in many ways.

Some people believe that to be good multicultural literature the writing should look at the "control, deployment and management of power" (Ching 2005) to have a complete cultural and social understanding.  This is one thing "Bird" does not address.  It does not question why or how Marcus became and addict.  Did surrounding circumstances have and influence?  Why are the junkies and addicts on the street and who has the power to name them as such?  Does Marcus' position of power change when he becomes an "addict" and is kicked out of his home?  What happens to these people, are there resources for them and who has the power to help them?  Who has the power to say Marcus' graffiti is not real art?  These are some of the questions of power the book does not address.  Personally I think the book stands as a multicultural piece of literature without this social commentary however these are good questions to consider as a class when reading the story.  My only issue with the book is the answer to Bird's questions about what happened to Marcus and his death.  Bird's Grandpa responds, "You can fix a broken wing with a splint, and a bird can fly again, but you can't fix a broken soul," this seems to be saying that addiction is something that cannot be fixed and there is no hope.  His only reassurance is that Marcus is at peace in heaven.  I do not think this message of hopelessness is reassuring or accurate.  However overall I believe "Bird" is an amazing cultural piece and serves a necessary need among young readers. 

I would use this book in my classroom if I saw a need.  If there were students I knew or suspected might be experiencing similar circumstances I would definitely read this book to my class. I wold include a lot of discussion over the themes within the book before and after our reading.  It is a topic that many students may find hard to talk about if they do not have much experience and if it is a personal issue.  I would want all students to feel comfortable talking about personal experiences, asking questions and know that they can come to me individually to talk if they do not feel comfortable in a group.  There are a lot of learning moments within the story.  I would not want to discuss drug abuse without it having been a previous discussion.  We could expand on what we think drug abuse is, how we see it around us and address many of the questions I brought up earlier.  We could discuss how Bird uses drawing in the story to cope with and understand all of the changes in his life.  We would discuss what we do as individuals to make sense of our lives and investigate outlets.  I would like to try these out in class including artistic and musical responses but also be open for other outlets.  Many children who live in large cities do not have these resources available to them as more and more classes are cut from the curriculum.  I believe it is important for students to have the time and resources to express themselves, work through their feelings/experiences and share with others.  If children are not able to respond to and discuss multicultural literature they will not be able to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and other cultures. 

Read what Zetta Elliott has to say about why she wrote "Bird" and what her understanding of the subject matter at http://www.leeandlow.com/p/zetta.mhtml.


<<Below is a book trailer for "Bird">>