Like a Bird
Like a Bird
4 A.M.
Wind.
I stand by my window, watching huge trees sway back and forth like they’re made of rubber. Huge branches are being flung everywhere. A lawn chair is picked up, then slammed against the side of the verandah steps. There’s a steady roar outside. My window rattles.
I go downstairs to the living room. Wayne hobbles out of his bedroom, and minutes later Jane’s there.
We keep a vigil together.
Wind and fires are a fatal combination. You hear that all the time.
An enormous crash. Jane screams. Margaret’s cherry tree that never has cherries, that she planted when she married Wayne, is down.
The lights blink. Once, twice, three times. The power’s out. The room is gray with moonlight.
Jane wants candles and cookies.
5 A.M.
The wind has died to a moan. The lawn in the gray dawn is littered with debris.
The phone rings.
It’s Martin.
“Do you have the radio on?” he asks.
“No. Why?”
“The fire broke through its perimeter. Aspen Lake’s under an Evacuation Order. Everyone’s gotta go, Rachel.”
Rachel has become accustomed to living in Aspen Lake with her sister Jane and her grandparents. In fact, life is good. Rachel’s doing OK at school, has a best friend and a boyfriend, and a part-time job at the local bookstore. Whenever she can, she rides her horse, Magic, on the ranch. But then the weather turns very dry, and a heat dome settles over the area. Later, the sun doesn’t look normal, and Rachel smells smoke in the air. The threat of wildfires is looming, and suddenly even small decisions become potentially life-changing.
Young adults who read Rachel Bird when the book came out in 2022 will be familiar with the main characters and the setting of the novel. Rachel is now 16 but must shoulder the responsibilities of the household when grandmother Margaret leaves for a couple of weeks of much-needed R&R. Rachel is hard-working and organized and shows lots of tough love toward both her little sister and her grandad Wayne. Within her own age group, she deals with feelings of not belonging and often prefers to simply be on her own. Boyfriend Cody is great, but their relationship puts added pressure on Rachel. And then there are the forest fires which form the backdrop of the book. Rachel must grow up in a hurry in order to take charge of her family’s safety and well-being.
Becky Citra again sets her novel on the ranch north of 100 Mile House in the interior of British Columbia. Her love of the outdoors and animals shows clearly in the book, and Citra’s readers will feel they are part of that setting. In her afterword, Citra points out that the book is inspired by the real and devastating events of 2021 when B.C. weather-related crises were on all Canadian news broadcasts during the entire summer.
As well as Citra’s novel being a coming-of-age story, Citra deals with other important themes, not the least of which is climate change and its ongoing effects being felt more and more. She also contemplates what is important in life. When forced to face a disaster and evacuate your home, what do you try to save? What can you live without? How do you make such difficult choices under emotional and time pressure?
Rachel grows up in a very practical sense but also changes emotionally throughout Like a Bird. This book will appeal to a variety of readers, with its friendships and romance, its strong story about the importance of family and the frightening /exciting scenario of living where forest fires threaten you and your home. Readers will no doubt look forward to another book featuring Rachel and her post-apocalypse life if Becky Citra chooses to take us there!
Ann Ketcheson, a retired teacher-librarian and high school teacher of English and French, lives in Ottawa, Ontario.