The Love Song of Mr. Byrd is a TELLING TALES Reading List Selection for 2026!

 

The Telling Tales Festival has named THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD to their festival reading list for 2026! Thank you to them, I'm delighted to see Mr. Byrd and Bat in such great company with other Canadian books for young readers

From the Telling Tales Festival 2026 Selection Advisory committee:

"The Telling Tales Reading List is a digital archive of great Canadian children’s literature. It is a resource for parents, guardians, and educators. This curated list of books is used to program our events throughout the year, including the annual Festival."

Find The Love Song of Mr. Byrd here.

The Telling Tales Reading list for 2026. 

The Love Song of Mr. Byrd BOOK TAILER

Keep reading everyone, we are in deep, deep summer, the perfect time to meet your best friend on the branch at twilight. Or if you can't do that, then read a book about it!

THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD is a CCBC Best Book Spring 2026!

Hurray for Mr. Byrd! He and Bat are in great company with these wonderful books from publisher DCB Young Readers. ALL four books been named to the Canadian Children's Book Centre BEST OF BOOK list for  Spring 2026!

Thank you to DCB, to the CCBC, and congratulations to all authors and publishers named. Inclusion on this important BEST OF list will ensure that top quality Canadian books get into the hands of young readers, coast to coast. READ ON, everyone!

For the entire Spring 2026 CCBC Best Books

 

It's a SYRCA Shining Willow Award Nomination for The Love Song of Mr. Byrd!

 

The Love Song of Mr. Byrd has received a lovely nomination from the Saskatchewan Young Reader's Choice Willow Awards in the SHINING WILLOW category! THANK YOU and congratulations to all the nominees and their publishers!

The Willow Awards 2026 have three categories from pre-school to high school, with ten books in each category. Shining Willow books are for readers from early or pre-school age to grade 3. The schools and libraries in Saskatchewan will carry the nominated books so that young readers can enjoy them, then vote on their favourite books next spring, 2027. The winners are announced at a gala event and authors and young readers get to meet face to face, which is so fun.

The full list of WILLOW AWARD NOMINEES

I'm incredibly grateful to the Willow Awards for many reasons. They put Canadian books into the hands of young Canadian readers; they celebrate Canadian publishing; and they allow the readers themselves to vote on their favourite books. A win from your own readers feels pretty great!

The Willow Award was also the first nomination I ever received for my first book The Gargoyle in My Yard, in 2011. What a day that was, to find out that not only can I have my book published (which frankly seemed like a win), but then the book may be nominated for awards! Who knew? 

An award nomination is wonderful validation and recognition for an author and inspires us to keep writing. 

To be business-minded for a moment, awards like these also help publishers sell books and continue to publish great Canadian authors. Thank you to my wonderful publisher, DCB Young Readers for supporting this EARLY CHAPTER BOOK adventure! And note that DCB has THREE books on the Willow Award list this year, a mighty feat! Congrats to all!

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Purchase a copy at a local bookstore

And finally, thank you and congratulations to artist Caroline Clarke, whose ten lovely illustrations are a big part of the book. I love them all (and the cover is amazing), but the illustration below of Bat and Mr. Byrd contemplating loss, is very, very sweet ...

LOSS © illustration by Caroline Clarke
From THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD, by Philippa Dowding

 

 

Where did the idea come from for The Love Song of Mr. Byrd?

 

Front and back covers of THE LOVE SONG OF MR. BYRD

How did I come up with the idea for Bat and Mr. Byrd's friendship story? It arrived one beautiful summer night a few years ago, when a bat and a bird flew past me as I walked down my street. They chirped and clicked and swooped so low that I ducked, then they flew together in perfect formation into a red maple tree, where they quietly disappeared.

Dawn, by Caroline Clarke

I couldn't stop thinking about them. What were they doing? Battling? It didn't seem so, but it's possible. Or were they just flying the same course at the same time into the same tree? Also possible. Apparently, bats and robins aren't natural enemies since they rarely intersect in time and place, which only made their flight together more intriguing. I didn't know why they did it, but as a writer I knew a good story when it flew over my head.

So, this story began. That summer I had access to a sailboat in Toronto, and at twilight a few times a week I went to the harbour to write a little more about Bat and Mr. Byrd. The sweet pull of twilight on the water spun its magic and led directly to this creative departure for me: a short, lyrical ballad about the surprising discovery and love of a new friend. 

Stories are everywhere, even right over our heads! 

The Love Song of Mr. Byrd 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.

ISBN  978-1-77086-808-3 | Paperback | Ages 6-9 | 96 pp | Oct. 25, 2025 | DRCs Available

To request Media Copies, author interview and/or other content, and more, please contact DCB Young Readers. 

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