A Bird About to Sing

Montenegro, Laura Nyman. A Bird About to Sing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2003


A Bird About to Sing tells the story of a young girl who finds inspiration to create poems in everything she sees. Her teacher takes her to a poetry reading but she is afraid to read her poem in front of everyone. Everyone tells her she’ll be okay and when she’s ready to perform she’ll be able to. She and her teacher ride the bus home and she asks if she can read her poem to just her teacher. She does, and she grows stronger, realizing as she finishes that all of the people on the bus are clapping for her and are the same people who were at the poetry reading. She feels confident in performing in front of other people once she’s accomplished this.
This story is something that can resonate with many readers. Many children (and adults) fear performing in front of others. This story shows how a child can overcome that fear. Montenegro also incorporates the use of poetry into the narrative. As many children are not exposed to poetry, this piece can encourage its enjoyment as it seems more fun to read than the line-by-line format.