I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This story is about a boy and his grandmother and how they bond over the grandmother's love for birds. When grandmother is moved into hospice her grandson brings a feeder so she can watch her beloved birds. This is a lovely book about family and also about losing a loved one.

The Bird Feeder by Andrew Larsen is a sweet, poignant story. It made me cry for almost no reason at all. Would recommend, but with parental guidance for the subject matter. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Bird Feeder by Andrew Larsen is a sweet, gentle book which deals with death in a slightly indirect manner. Grandma has been living at the young narrator's home since she got sick. They enjoy many activities together but the best is watching and drawing the birds that visit the feeder outside Grandma's room. Grandma gets sicker and moves to a hospice facility where the child brings birds to her window with a feeder outside. The book does not use any words relating to death. It is implied by showing Grandma's room without her and the child removing the pictures they have hung on the wall and saying Grandma will miss the baby birds leaving their nest. The book is about a very special child/grandmother relationship. One can feel the love and friendship between the two. The child hangs their own bird feeder outside and it adds life to the post-death story. They think of Grandma while doing an activity that they had done with her. Andrew Larsen's spare writing is superb. The illustrations, by Dorothy Leung, are detailed, colorful and very realistic. The drawings the child has put on the wall are even distinct rather than colorful blobs. I highly recommend this book for parents looking to talk about death with their little ones. Thank you to NetGalley, Kids Can Press and Andrew Larsen for this ARC.

A simple story about a young boy and his grandmother and their mutual love of birds and art. While the story itself is simple, the message is extremely heart-wrenching and vital, as it teaches young readers how to handle loss and grief.

A lovely and poignant book about aging and loss. Understandable by readers of all ages. Thanks to the author and publisher for an egalley.

The Bird Feeder is very different from most of the books we read. Not very many of our picture books deal with death and dying, as this one does. I was not even sure that my little girls would understand what the story was about when I read it, but my seven-year-old picked up on what happened right away.
A young child, maybe six or eight years old, is happy that his grandmother lives with them now that she is sick. The child is happy to be able to see his grandmother any time he wants to.  He fills her bird feeder every day, and they watch the birds together. They talk about their favorites, and enjoy seeing them.
Then one day, the child comes home from school and Grandma is not there any more. She went to hospice. Mom takes the child to hospice and they visit Grandma. The child brings Grandma’s bird feeder and hangs it outside her window. They create more memories there in hospice, enjoying the bird feeder, until the day Grandma is no longer there either.
The drawings in this book help to give the feel of both love and sadness. The Bird Feeder is a beautiful story of the love that a grandmother and grandchild share, and how the memories they made in her final days can help the grandchild when he is sad and missing her. This is a good book to read with children to help them understand death and dying. It is a gentle introduction to the idea that older people pass away and are no longer with us.
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

This incredibly touching book presents a special relationship between a grandmother and her grandchild, and their shared love of animals . . . especially birds. As the elderly woman's health declines, she is sent to live in a hospice, but the love within the child's heart never dies.

A sweet and beautiful story that brought a tear to my eye.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for a free digital copy.

A touching picture book about the love between a grandmother and grandson and how the grandson navigates his grandmother being sick and dying. But in the messy middle he gets to enjoy the simple joys of life with her.

I just reviewed Bird Feeder, The by Andrew Larsen. #NetGalley


Nice book, i loved it and it's sad .

I thought that this book was absolutely brilliant!

This was a beautiful story and it really pulled on my heart strings as I read it with my five year daughter not long after my father in law passed away in August this year and we had also lost my grandma (her great-grandma) before that too so there was plenty we could talk about regarding aging and loss and to talk about her feelings

It was superbly written, it had a wonderful flow to the book - I thought it was excellent

It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended!

Thank you so much to Andrew Larsen and Netgalley for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Oh dear good, I knew this book was going to break me and smooth my heart at the same time. This book is absolute so so lovely and it's such a good book to introduce such hard topics to children like death and our loved one's absence. And how we nurture the memories and rituals we did with others. How we carry them in our minds and hearts for as long as we live and they live through us, in little gestures.
The drawings are absolutely lovely as well, so sweet and delicate.
I felt like giving my grandma the biggest hug possible, whenever she is now.

Sweet and heartwarming, but also somewhat intense on the emotions.

The little first person narrator loves his grandma, who is sick and has come to stay at their house. The two spend a lot of happy time together, but their most special activity is watching the birds who come outside their window to feed through Grandma’s birdfeeder. When Grandma’s health declines, she is moved to the hospice. The little boy is upset but soon understands that things needn’t change. He takes the birdfeeder and hangs it outside the hospice window, thus continuing their bonding from a different location. But will things really stay the same? What happens when Grandma’s health deteriorates?

The story portrayed the bond between the grandmother and her grandson so beautifully. Taking their shared love for birds as well as drawings, the author shows that heartfelt connections aren’t restricted by age barriers. Moreover, the book also highlights the death of a loved one, how grief feels, and how we can remember those who are no longer with us. I loved how it showed that change can be for the better if we take it in our stride, and death needn’t be a full stop of a loving relationship as we keep the people in our memories than try to suppress our feelings. The death isn’t written openly but just hinted at, a plus point in my opinion.

The writing is in simple prose, with easy words and just a few sentences per page.

The illustrations are not the typical style of cute rounded cheeks or bright pastel colours. Rather, they are as subdued as the story, with earthy tones dominating the palette. The art style is also minimal. All this works well for this story as the focus stays on the content and the meaning than on the artwork.

Despite the theme, this is a very soothing book. I do recommend it for children to understand that death is a natural stage of life and they can handle it in a positive way. It will help them know that it is okay to grieve, and it is also okay to move on. At the same time, the content is such that I would requests parents/guardians to go through it first and determine its suitability as per the sensitivity level of your child. It might work for kids with aged relatives in hospice care, but I worry kids might assume that hospice means death in the near future – a scary thought for that age.

4 stars.

My thanks to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Bird Feeder”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Sweet , beautiful and honest book about sharing the love of nature with Grandparents in the stage of passing away . I really enjoyed the serene and paper cut looking illustrations here. A wonderful gift book to help a child feel less isolated when their favorite Grandparent is ill.
Only one section seemed more of a jump for younger children to me to understand but a good book for adults to review and go over with their children to understand the process of dying and not sharing what we love with our family
member once they are gone .

This one really does an excellent job of touching a deep and heavy hitting subject but in a way that a child can understand and handle, emotionally. Reading it as an adult, the melancholy was heavy, but this gem has a brilliant way of combining the sadness of the moment in childhood when you realize you may not have all of the people you love in your life forever, particularly grandparents, and the joy of loving someone and have someone love you so deeply in the freest part of your life.

This was a cute book about a heavy subject. It tackles the topic of grandparent illness and eventual passing away with a gentle touch without shying away from reality. Definitely important to help kids understand their emotions.

I love this gentle, heartwarming story. A little child shares the family home with beloved, Grandma. She comes to stay because she gets sick. Grandma brings along her bird feeder to place outside her window because she loves to watch the birds that gather there. Together the two observe the birds, draw pictures of them, and chit chat about things that are of interest to them both. They adore each other's company and are very close.

As time proceeds Grandma's health declines much more and she moves to a hospice. The child brings along Grandma's bird feeder and hangs it outside her window there. That act of kindness cheers Grandma up as once again she is united with her favourite pastime... bird watching!

Unfortunately Grandma grows more frail and weak until finally she passes on and her room is silent and empty. The child is very sad that Grandma, a wonderful friend, is now gone.

Once back home, the bird feeder outside Grandma's bedroom window is more precious than ever. It brings back happy memories of their togetherness and Grandma's love for her special grandchild.

The illustrations are beautiful and the illustrator uses a soft, calming colour pallet which is perfect for the subject. The author highlights the precious bond between a child and a grandparent and how a child adjusts to the death of someone so special in life. This book will spark conversations for young readers to ask their own questions on the subject. "The Bird Feeder" is a beautiful sensitive story that I highly recommend.

The Bird Feeder is a sweet book about losing a grandparent. The tone and the illustrations of the book are perfect for the content matter. The diversity of the characters is refreshing. Great book!

A sweet way to explain the concept of death with an older loved one. The child's grandmother moves in with them, and they hang a bird feeder outside her room, so she can see the birds. But as she grows weaker, and has to go into hospice care, but the child hangs a bird feeder there as well, and so they watch the birds from her room, until she dies, and the child says it is good that she saw the baby birds, but won't be around to see them leave the nest.

It ends with the child getting her own bird feeder, to carry on watching birds, like her grandmother did.

Such a sweet way to show the passage of time, and how death comes.

A good asset on death and dying to any library.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. </em>

Cannot thank the publisher 'Kids Can Press' enough for sharing this advance review copy with me. Andrew Larsen has created such a beautiful world - one in which a kid and his grandma co-exist beautifully with birds and dogs. Wasn't expecting to get as emotional as I did over a children's book but here we are.

This is such a lovely book for any child who is facing the prospect of a family member going into a hospice. I think it does a lot for debunking the myths of what hospice rooms actually look like. I really liked the fact that the nurses were pictured wearing their uniforms and the bed was drawn with the sides up as these are things which would be great to discuss or explain through the medium of this book.
There's something lovely about the use of drawing in the book to show that old and young aren't too dissimilar after all. It's also lovely to discuss how the birds become something to remember Grandma by which might be something to suggest to a child reading this book.
The only part I wasn't sure of is that it skips over Grandma's death - although this is probably deliberate it's possibly the most important part of the book as that's where hospice care is leading to and I question the decision to leave it out.

Overall, a really lovely book which is very sensitively written given the difficult subject it discusses.