Author copies for my latest book arrived today:
THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD is in the house!
I'm eternally grateful to my wonderful publisher, DCB Young Readers, for the opportunity to share this story. The book is short (around 8000 words), and split into 10 sweet, lyrical chapters that work well for readers ready for chapter books, ages 5 to 8. It's also graced with 10 beautiful illustrations, from Newfoundland artist Caroline Clarke (more about Caroline's lovely work in another post). Caroline also created the cover image of Bat and Mr. Byrd on their red maple tree branch. IMAGE 1: author's copies of The Love Song of Mr . Byrd!
But to me, this summertime journey with Byrd and his friend Bat is really for anyone who wants to explore love and friendship in a world full of news and stories that often feel like their antithesis. The world is difficult but there is always kindness, joy, beauty, if we choose them. In fact, Bat and Mr. Byrd talk about this very thing and more.
Why did I write a story so unapologetically about love? Because it felt like the right time, in my 15th book, to write about something I'd never really declared, head on. Because we need it? Because it was fun? Because, because. The truth is, as I say in the acknowledgements at the back of the book, I was inspired to write this ballad after a bird and a bat flew over my head one summer night a few years ago. They were unusual, flying together like that, and they stayed with me.
I had a sailboat that summer and as I thought more about the bat and the bird overhead, I decided to write their story by hand in a Moleskin journal, one chapter a week on the boat over ten weeks. Which is why the story is ten short chapters, and is only 8,000 words; I wrote to the very last journal page! IMAGE 2: my initial "cover" idea (in pencil) of Byrd and Bat on the branch, beside the real cover.
I read a lot as a child, I think many writers did (not necessarily all). I found myself channeling many of my favourite childhood characters as I wrote: Charlotte and Wilbur, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Ratty and Moley from the The Wind in the Willows, even some lines of Shakespeare. There are resonances, too, with books my children and I read, like Corduroy Bear and Franklin the Turtle. The fact that I wrote the story on a boat also lends a gentle rocking, watery rhythm. I changed very little from my handwritten version, which surprises me. IMAGE 3: My original Mr. Byrd journal, then simply "Bat & Bird."
In the weeks ahead, I'll write more about The Love Song of Mr. Byrd. It feels like resistance, yet also like something gentle, to write about love and friendship, and I'm glad.
The final lines from my acknowledgement: "This story is about friendship and love and is for everyone who has ever been moved to sing (or dance, or paint, or write, or celebrate) like Mr. Byrd. I hope he inspires you to hear your own song, and sing it, too."
The Love Song of Mr. Byrd is available in bookstores and libraries after October 25, 2025
Preorder Mr. Byrd at a local bookstore here
Book launch information to come soon!
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