"The beauty of this rigorously unsentimental novel about a family in
crisis is the way that Mack, even as she lets her characters' imaginations soar, keeps
her story grounded in the pain of broken things.the words remain powerfully ambiguous,
the healing poignantly attenuated."Booklist

"Mack's expressively visual prose interspersed with fragments of candid poetry realistically
captures the anger and frustration of a boy coping with the loss of a sibling.Colorful, well-drawn
characters add to the story's painful sense of realism."School Library Journal

Amid the sparkle and hum of a New York City winter, Jed and his best friend, Flyer, are filming a
documentary of their neighborhood. In the process, Jed confronts painful memories of his older
brother, Zeke, a poet who loved jazzman Charlie "Bird" Parker and who died, leaving behind his
CDs, a notebook, and a lot of unanswered questions.

When Jed encounters a mysterious homeless girl he thinks holds the key to connecting him to Zeke,
it could be his only way to unlock his deepest sorrow and discover how to bewho to beon his own.

As true and lyrical as a sax solo, Birdland touches down at the core of the human heart and sends it
soaring. Recommended for young adults.

TRACY MACK'S debut novel, Drawing Lessons, was named a Booklist Top Ten First Novel of 2000, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, a Bank Street College Best Book, and a Teen People NEXT Award finalist. A book editor and devoted yogini, she lives in Brooklyn, New York, and the Berkshires with her husband, Michael Citrin.

Lloyd James hails from the Midwest. He received a B.A. in theater from a small liberal-arts college in New Mexico. He acts in the theater when his schedule permits and spends much of his free time working in his garden. He lives in Virginia with his wife and son.