David Almond’s books are exemplars of multilayered texts. My Dad’s A Birdman, Almond’s first chapter book for younger audiences, is a good example. From an adult point of view, parents that squawk, eat worms and spiders, and wear wings are probably not sane. From an eight-year-old child’s perspective, these behaviors may be understood simply as a way to heal a broken soul. In Almond’s world, Lizzie intelligently takes over when her Dad assumes the aforementioned traits. Polly Dunbar’s watercolor and collage il lustrations, adorning virtually every page, increase the humor and pleasure of an already exuberant (albeit admittedly dark) fantasy. 2009 USBBY Out standing International Books List, UKLA Children’s Publishing Award. David Almond is the winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award. He also has received the Whitbread Award and the Carnegie Medal. lmp

Originally published by Walker Books Great Britain, in 2007.