'The Bower Bird' by Ann Kelley

Suitability: For All

‘The Bower Bird’ by Ann Kelley won the Costa Prize 2007 for Children’s Literature. It is the continuing story of Gussie, started in the book, ‘The Burying Beetle’. Gussie is 12 years old, loves animals, and wants to be a photographer when she grows up. But it’s not at all likely she will grow up. She needs a heart and lung transplant but the donor list is long and she can’t wait for life to start after that. She’s a character with a lot of things to do: coping with her parents and their divorce, finding her ancestors, managing her own love life, keeping an eye out on the wildlife in her garden and worrying about how she’s going to own up to the library about some lost books! However worrying Gussie’s problems are; this is not a sad or depressing book. It’s told through her eyes and with her thoughts, especially reflecting on the Cornish village, landscape and language. Ann Kelley said about Gussie compared with her son who needed a similar operation:

“Gussie isn’t my son. She is an amalgamation of several people – my daughter, my grand daughter, my son and me – and she is mostly herself, an odd, funny bookish child, eccentric and thoughtful – a one off, as Nathan was. But she is also the embodiment of many children who bravely find a way to live through health and emotional problems. My son knew that even with a successful transplant, in those days he would only have had a few more years. But he was so happy to have been given that chance.I think that is why I write about Gussie – to make people see the importance of being an organ donor."