With Just One Wing

Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods’s poignant, heartfelt story of an adopted boy and the bird he rescues

Everyone expects Coop to be musical like his beloved parents, but he’s not. That’s one of the few things he finds awkward about being adopted--well, that and the fact that he sometimes wonders why his birth mother didn’t love him enough to keep him. This summer, he’s stuck at home with a broken arm after falling out of a tree trying to get a closer peek at a mockingbird nest. Later, when the eggs in the nest have hatched and the fledglings fly away, he and his friend Zandi notice that one of them stays behind. Taking a closer look, they realize the bird only has one wing. Since it won’t survive in the wild, they adopt it and name it Hop, and then learn everything they can about birds so they can care for Hop properly. Unfortunately, when a hawk injures Hop, the vet says it’s illegal to keep mockingbirds as pets. Faced with a difficult decision about surrendering his beloved little bird to a bird sanctuary, Coop starts thinking about his birth mother’s motivation in a new light.

Brenda Woods (brendawoods.net), an artist and photographer, has a bachelor of science degree from California State University. Her award-winning books include When Winter Robeson Came, The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA, Zoe in Wonderland, The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond, Coretta Scott King Honor winner The Red Rose Box, Saint Louis Armstrong Beach, and Emako Blue. Her numerous awards and honors include the Judy Lopez Memorial Award, FOCAL award, Pen Center USA’s Literary Award finalist, IRA Children’s Choice Young Adult Fiction Award, and ALA Quick Pick. She lives in Nevada.