The Secret Language of Birds

By: Lynne Kelly

Publish Date: April 9, 2024

Publisher: Random House Children’s, Delacorte Press

Children’s Fiction/Middle Grade

#TheSecretLanguageofBirds#NetGalley

200 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to thank both NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read and review this book.

Book Review:

I really enjoyed this book and gave it 4 stars. I read it in one day. Nina is the middle child of five children. She has an older sister and brother and a set of twins younger than her. She is feeling left out and lonely. She finds that she really enjoys the birds around her even has bird feeders in the backyard. Every summer she goes to different camps but seems to never fit in and they are just not for her. This summer she decides she wants to do something different and to go to her aunt’s summer camp. The aunt is an odd ball of the family, and her mom isn’t sure but let’s Nina go anyway with the understanding if she wants to come home early she can.

Once Nina gets to camp her aunt takes her to a special place and they bird watch for a while. Nina is enjoying herself until the campers start to arrive. She starts to feel uncomfortable and text her mom to come get her. Then one night they go and visit the old infirmary, which is off limits, but a tradition. They go at night, and the staff members don’t know. That night a strange noise happened and everyone left but Nina. Come to find out it wasn’t a ghost but a strange bird, one that Nina has never seen before.

As camp continues on she ends up making a lot of friends and eventually text’s her mom back that she would like to stay. She also discovers what the bird or birds are and is watching them for the wildlife people until they can get there to check on them themselves.

I learned quite a bit about these birds and how they are endangered. I also enjoy the friendship that Nina made. I like how she was able to get her family to understand what she really enjoys doing and they get behind in it.

Loved this book and think of it often. I bought for my elementary library, as I was so impressed with it.
Great message about finding what you love and indulging in it.
Really loved the side characters and Nina's relationships with them.
Written as a middle grade but has appeal to older readers too.

A story about two kinds of flocks, human and aviary. About the importance of conservation and the importance of nurturing our human relationships.

I love how passionate Nina is about birds and how she finds a group of friends who let her be herself, but also call her to being a better person.

A great lesson can be learned here about being aware of the world around us and how even our focused small efforts can have an impact on our planet at large.

I like to note when middle graders behave badly and how they are punished. I do feel like there was a good balance here of the girls doing what they think is right and having a healthy fear of punishment and then having to deal with some consequences once they are eventually caught.

Thanks to Delacorte Press, Random House Kids for the gifted title. All opinions are my own.

A young girl finds endangered birds at camp, and now she keeps it as a secret. Fitting in isn’t easy, especially when you are a bird nerd, but when Nina resigns herself to camp, she begins to discover friendship. Eventually, she ropes in her new friends, and together they embark on a mystery to figure out who the cranes are and will the egg hatch? Along the way, our character slowly hatches from her own shell, and she realizes that she is capable of finding her own flock. While the themes are beautiful in themselves, the story does drag with a lack of steady pacing. Overall, the characters are quirky and cute but the plot seems to lack a certain drive and charm.

At summer camp, Nina, an amateur bird-watcher, discovers a pair of whooping cranes nesting in the marsh—something that hasn't happened in Texas for over a century. With her fellow campers, the Odd balls, she investigates the mysterious birds, uncovering more than just wildlife as she seeks her own sense of belonging.

In addition to all things birds, we get a lot of Texas in this book: Buccees, summer camp, cranes, heat. This was a sweet story about self discovery, friendship and learning that it’s ok to be different. This is a story that will be enjoyed by all ages.

There was a little too much bird information for me personally, but I can see my nature-loving students really connecting with the story. Bird facts aside, I did enjoy the story and loved the connection to the characters from Song for a Whale.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Lynne Kelly is the best at writing the isolating loneliness of being a weird girl. "The Secret Language of Birds" was a great follow up to "Song For a Whale." It has such great and realistic characters and a wonderful message about how to stay true to yourself while you grow. I also love all the environmental messages in Kelly's stories. Even if this is a middle grade novel, it works for all ages and can help heal an adult's inner child. I can't wait to see what comes next from this author!

A neurodivergent tween finds friends and makes an amazing discovery at summer camp. (From Redeemed Reader review.)

It was wonderful going back into the world of SONG FOR A WHALE. I would give this to kids looking for books about friendships as well as the kids who are concerned about conservation.

A city girl whose parents don't understand her craving for Nature send her to summer camp, where she solves the mystery of the camp's alleged ghost and learns the currently recommended procedure for appreciating a rare bird. At school she tried to make friends with a deaf girl who transferred to a deaf school, and had been feeling rejected. At camp she makes other friends and also reconnects with the deaf girl, who even helps solve the mystery.

Recommended to all parents and all children, especially those who still live in child-friendly environments and will feel profound pity for the city kids in this book. Pity helps build empathy.

4.5 stars.

A beautiful story with a lot of information to teach young and adults both. I loved how our protagonist found her own friendships that supported her.

This book is a true gem! I love Lynne Kelly's writing style and was impatiently waiting for another read from her after Song for a Whale. The Secret Language of Birds was so heartfelt and beautiful and I can't wait to share it with my students!

I loved Song for a Whale and booktalked that all the time after I finished it. This was a great follow up novel. Not directly connected, but also helps in understanding more about animal connections and how humans can make things better for animals. I'm also a fan of having characters wrestling with anxiety as I find that is a prevalent thing amongst young people now and the more conversations we can open up about it, the better off we'll all be. Totally adding this to my classroom library.

loved this title - so much depth and facets to the characters. setting works well, though at first I thought it was kitschy. recommend for upper elem and tweens. i bought in hardcover

I absolutely adored Song for a Whale, so I was very excited for this one. Kelly's writing is so effortless and full of empathy. I loved following Nina and growing with her throughout the book. The summer camp setting was very fun, and I loved the camp moments! This was such an enjoyable read!

A great follow up to Song for a Whale, with a loose connection to the original MC, but in this book, a whole new set of characters. Middle grade readers who are animal entusiasts (especially bird enthusiasts) and strong readers will come away from this book with appreciation. I think it would work best as an audiobook for most middle grade readers as it is on the longer side.

Lynne Kelly, as always, writes beautifully about summer camp, friendships, and how young people can make a difference in the world.

I'm very late reviewing this, but I want to thank Random House and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

I loved meeting Iris in "A Song for a Whale" by Lynne Kelly, and was excited to hear that Lynne Kelly had another book coming out. I was even more excited when I saw the cover as the design is similar to "Song for a Whale."

The Secret Language of Birds is about Nina, a girl desperate to fit in, but who always seems to be . . . a little much. In fact, if you've read Song for a Whale, you may remember Nina as the girl with the over-the-top sign language. I enjoyed getting to know Nina and to learn about her love for birds. Nina heads off to camp in an effort to connect with her aunt, but finds a group of friends "the oddballs" along the way. Not only that, but she discovers a very rare bird in the marsh at camp. Ultimately this is a sweet story about being brave and finding a place of belonging.

While I didn't connect to Nina's story or the summer camp setting as well as I did Iris, I found this to be an enjoyable story and highly recommend it to anyone who loved "Song for a Whale."

2.5 stars

There were some great, suspenseful moments, but they were overshadowed by the confusing links between characters and the events in the story. There was a sub-plot that was meant to be a budding romance. It had zero impact on the story and the characters didn’t have any chemistry. That whole storyline should have been left out. I usually gripe about stories that are too predictable. However, this one was so all over the place it made it impossible to predict. Each “bombshell” made the story more confusing and harder to follow and more ridiculous.

I really wanted to like this one more. I absolutely loved Song for a Whale, but struggled to get into this story in the same way. I think the second half of the story moved better than the first half, but something about the characters rubbed me the wrong way

I loved this sweet story about friendship and family. I loved Nina's discovery that maybe she could find some friends that she fit in with and how she overcame her insecurities and doubts about herself, eventually letting in the new friends. Learning more about birds was so fun and I was engaged in learning what happened all the way through the book. I definitely recommend this book for middle grade lovers.