Birds on the Brain

Reeni lives in India and is an avid bird-watcher. Yasmin and Anil, her two closest friends, are also Reeni's classmates. When their teacher announces that the class is to split into small groups, come up with a topic they care about, and prepare to do a survey about that topic, Reeni is determined to create a survey about birds. Yasmin, who is passionate about books, agrees to Reeni's idea as long as they incorporate books. Anil, who loves karate, decides to join a different group. Reeni, Yasmin, and Anil interact with a number of interesting characters, such as "Book Uncle" who runs the lending library, and "istri lady," who irons clothing with a coal-fueled iron. Eventually, Reeni, Yasmin, and Anil end up working together - in a way. Anil's karate club is raising money for a solar tech project. However, some of the solar panels planned for installation will go on the roof of Anil's building and destroy a nest just built by a bird about to lay her eggs. Reeni comes up with a plan that will help Anil get a survey done for school plus increase interest in solar panel sales and installation in other places, thereby allowing the bird nesting on his roof time for her eggs to hatch and the chicks to fly before any solar panels need be installed on Anil's building. After learning that the town's main park is to be closed during Bird Count India week, the three friends attend a town council meeting where Reeni manages to impress the mayor with the importance of green space to birds, as well as the importance of birds to the health of the whole community.

A lot of colourful and interesting detail has been packed into Birds on the Brain, at times - it seems - at the expense of character development. While there is no doubt about Reeni's love of birds, Birds on the Brain is a fast-moving, intricately woven, and largely theme-driven novel. Nevertheless, for strong readers, this book could prove both enriching and empowering.