December believes she is a bird. The scar on her back is where her wings will sprout, and one day soon, she will soar away. It will not matter that she has no permanent home. Her destiny is in the sky. 

But then she’s placed with foster mom Eleanor, a kind woman who volunteers at an animal rescue and has secrets of her own. December begins to see that her story could end a different way – but could she ever be happy down on the ground? 

In her arresting debut, Sandy Stark-McGinnis offers an inspiring story about family, friendship, and finding where you belong.

A Review by Guest Blogger Zoe Nolde

A girl named December has many foster parents. They all decide to take her back to her social worker, Adrian because she is what her foster parents call, “wreckless.” She later gets sent to another foster home but her new foster mother, Elenor.

Elenor is a taxidermist, that means that she stuffs animals, mostly birds. December feels like she will stuff her because she thinks she’s a bird.

Read to find out what connection the author is trying to make of what sets birds and people apart.

I’m an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in Quercus Review, In the Grove, and Penumbra. I hold an MA in creative writing from San Francisco State University. Extraordinary Birds is my debut middle grade novel.

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