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Sugar Birds

by Cheryl Grey Bostrom
2021 / 328 Pages
 
This page-turner takes place in the Pacific Northwest, a little north of Seattle, and tells the story of two girls who have lost their way in wildernesses of their own making.

Ten-year-old Aggie accidentally sets fire to her home and is sure she has killed her parents. So, she flees into the forest where she puts the survival skills taught by her dad into practice. Climbing trees is her passion and finding bird nests with eggs waiting to hatch gives her joy but she has been forbidden by her unstable mother to continue climbing. Celia is 16 years old and has to spend the summer with her grandma instead of going to Lake Chelan with her father.  She meets a very handsome farm hand and falls in love with him but this relationship is a disaster waiting to happen. Aggie’s autistic brother, Burnaby, carefully gathers bones of birds that have died and threads their skeletons back together.  He becomes a healing balm for troubled Celia.

Cautions include a few instances of impolite language, a section where Celia and a boy are beginning something they shouldn’t but steer clear, and one time there’s the threat of rape, though not the act.

This is quite the touching story about anger, rebellion, forgiveness, and redemption. However, because of the mentioned subject matter I would recommend it only for the mature reader.
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Adult fiction, Book Reviews

Chasing Fireflies

by Charles Martin 340 pages / 2007 This is part murder mystery, part adoption story (times two), and part...well, superhero epic. The murder mystery is an old one, and the person trying to solve is Chase Walker, journalist, and formerly a foster kid who bounced around from one house to another until he arrived on the doorstep of “Unc” and that's where he stayed. The murder victims are Unc's father and first wife, and while the police think the case is settled, Chase is not so sure. The adoption-story-times-two involves Chase, adopted by Unc, and a nameless boy who was so badly abused his vocal chords have been damaged, leaving him mute. With Chase all grown up, Unc has space in his heart, and in his home, for another boy in need. The super-hero of the story is Unc himself, a man so good as to be a bit unreal. That's the story's weakness, but also a lot of its charm. Unc is the father figure that us fathers want to be. He most often knows just the right thing to do or say. When Chase, as a boy, gets it into his head that his father is finally coming to get him, Unc does what he can to sooth the boy’s disappointment. Unc walked up next to me and hung his arms across the fence railing. In his hands he held an empty mason jar with holes punched in the lid. He stood there a long time turning the jar. Inside, a single lightning bug fluttered off the sides of the glass. Every five or six seconds, he’d light his lantern. Unc turned the jar in his hand. “Scientists say that these things evolved this way over million of years.” He shook his head. “That’s a bunch of bunk. I don’t think an animal can just all-of-a-sudden decide it wants to make light grow out its butt. What kind of nonsense is that? Animals don’t make light.” He pointed to the stars.” God does that. I don’t know why or how, but I am pretty sure it’s not chance. It’s not some haphazard thing He does in His spare time.” He looked at me, and his expression changed from one of wonder to seriousness, to absolute conviction. “Chase, I don’t believe in chance.” He held up the jar. “This is not chance, neither are the stars.” He tapped me gently in the chest. “And neither are you. So, if your mind is telling you that God slipped up and might have made one giant mistake when it comes to you, you remember the firefly’s butt.” Maybe Unc is a bit too wise, too patient and too good, but I was okay with that. That’s in part because the author is good at his craft and pulls it off. It’s also because there is something genuine about Unc – this is fatherhood as we want to practice it, this is sacrificial love the way it should be done, and this filling up a kid the way he ought to be. There is truth here. Finally, while Unc may not be entirely realistic, the world he inhabits is. There is some grit here. First off, several people are murdered. Also, one of the people Unc helps is an abused girl who later ran away to become an adult porn star. In addition, the physical abuse the mute boy has suffered is detailed and it included someone pinching and ripping his skin with pliers. That is about as descriptive as it gets, but these elements mean this is a book for adults only. Another caution would be about the hero's faith. While God is made mention of throughout the book, Unc doesn't attend church, though that is in part because he isn't welcome there. He also has a seemingly superstitious understanding of baptism, going to extreme lengths to get someone baptized shortly before their death. But those will be minor matters to Christians with discernment. Chasing Fireflies will likely make you cry, so if you don't like sentimental books, don't start it. On the other hand this is so much better than the average tearjerker because Martin's writing is simply remarkable. Jon Dykstra and his siblings blog on books at www.ReallyGoodReads.com....