Blue Birds

Alis is twelve when her family sails from teeming, dirty London to the new world. It is 1587. They land on the island of Roanoke and expect to find English soldiers, including Alis’s beloved uncle, who had come before, but there is no one. All they find is some burned buildings and bones. At the same time, Kimi, a young girl of the Roanoke tribe, sees the settlers and is reminded of the deaths of her father and sister. Both girls have lost loved ones, yet they meet in the woods and find a way to become friends, each lacking a girl her own age to befriend. As animosity heats up between the English and the Roanoke, can these two girls survive the hostility and find a way to stay friends?

Caroline Starr Rose truly has a way with words. She tells this story in the voices of the two girls written in beautiful, lyrical free verse. The voices are distinct enough to not need it, but they are set in two different fonts. The story is compelling and filled with a range of emotions from longing, to sadness, to loneliness, to hope. This book should not be missed.