This was a great and unique collection of poetry and short stories about the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that occurred in New York City. The poems and stories are told through different voices and characters that are all connected to each other. Some of the stories were absolutely heartbreaking and this was definitely a heavy read, but I think these stories needed to be told.

This was a beautiful read. I love YA text that speak to the wisdom of young people who are from the inner cities. These young ppl often thought to not have anything to teach us but the chorus and the characters say different. Handling Covid through such searing portrayals of real life allows young ppl and (older ones) to process that strange time with an eye toward healing. I could see teachers and social workers using this text as a tool to honor and amplify teen voices; to celebrate the resilience of BIPOC youth. I loved Maseo Sr and Jr!

Thank you Mahogany L Browne for such a rich reading/thinking/dreaming experience and sharing your gifts with us. Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc.

This is a collection of stories from multiple points of view and characters that are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC. Many of these stories are coming from young people but some are from adults, and the people are all connected to each other in some way. There was also a chorus of two girls that commented on the stories as we transitioned between them, but not every time. I listened to the audiobook version of this, and the cast of narrators did a fantastic job of bringing each story to life (I especially liked Marigold). However, I don't know if the audio made it this way, but the first story was incredibly hard to follow and I had no idea it wasn't a fictional story written by Malachi- maybe the print version has something to indicate that? There's also just A LOT of topics being tackled here in such a short book and I wonder if it is trying to do too much.

My main issue is whether this will resonate with teens or not. I don't see many of them gravitating toward it unless they are familiar with the author and/or like poetry and poetic writing, and the title doesn't help in that regard. I wonder how accurate this is to how teens experienced the pandemic, too? It's such a difficult thing to write about for many reasons but especially for this age group. The teens that experienced it the way it is written here have mostly aged out of YA and aren't the target demographic, and those who are the target age now had such a different experience. It's important to read about others' experiences, but will it resonate? And is it too soon/too raw?

Mahogany L. Browne's "A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe" is a poetic triumph that captures the essence of resilience and hope amidst the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. This masterfully interwoven collection of stories, poems, and reflections follows the lives of diverse New York City teens navigating the challenges of a world turned upside down.

Browne's narrative is a heartfelt tribute to those who endured, showcasing characters like Malachi, longing for connection, and Tariq, caring for a vulnerable grandmother. The presence of best friends Electra and Hyacinth serves as a comforting chorus throughout, their conversations grounding the reader in a shared humanity. The book's vivid portrayal of grief, community, and the fight for survival is both poignant and powerful.

Browne's exquisite use of language and varied formats crafts an evocative mosaic of young lives, making this an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the pandemic's profound impact. This work is a mesmerizing beacon of light, reminding us all of the enduring spirit of youth.

As an educator who worked with high school students during the COVID Pandemic, Mahogany L. Browne's A BIRD IN THE AIR MEANS WE CAN STILL BREATHE really resonated with me. In this emotional short story collection, Browne brings those experiences of fear and isolation to life in a very vivid way. It almost feels too real. This is a great book for students who were in high school at the time and experienced so much disruption in their lives; reading this could be very healing. A BIRD IN THE AIR MEANS WE CAN STILL BREATHE is not an easy read but it is well written and beautiful.

Beautiful and complicated, presenting multiple voices in a number of styles and forms to create a nuanced portrait of what it must be like to come of age during a global health threat that isolates you just as you are learning how to meet the world.

Browne, Mahogany . A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe. Crown Books for Young Readers, 2025, 9780593486474. $19.99. 160p. Grades 8-12

Description: This is a collection of interconnected poems, verse, and stories centered in New York during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This centers on Malachi who wrote a somewhat dystopian story inspired by his Pandemic reality, Tariq who helps his grandmother throughout quarantine, Zamira who is lost and struggling with depression after losing her parents to COVID, Mohamed who tries to help his community, and lastly a social worker who sees first hand the failures of the foster care system throughout the pandemic.

Thoughts: This was quick, interesting, and at times felt like it almost hits too close to home. With the Pandemic only being 5 years ago (although at times it feels like it was both a lifetime ago and just yesterday), some of these feelings are still “fresh” in a way and that made this story even more relatable.

Realistic Fiction; Story Collections

Tags: Short Story Collections; Mental Health, COVID-19 Pandemic, Internal Struggle, Diverse Family Structures, Death of a parent, Foster Care

The plot focuses on seven youths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foster kid, Malachi and his family are missing their missing father who is incarcerated. Tariq is a non-binary teen who is caring for her ailing grandmother. Zamira is an orphan in the care of her sister. Pops is from Yemen and works at a bodega. Emeralda is a queer teen who has recently graduated. Electra and Hyacinth are best friends tying the stories together. The readers follow the youths as their impacted by poverty, depression, and anxiety as the pandemic progresses. Themes of hope, grief, grace, and honesty abound throughout the book.

The letters are pieced together well. The prose is well written and engaging. The characters’ voices are authentic. The number of voices throughout the book makes the storyline hard to follow. Readers who like books written in prose, pandemic-set novels, and realistic fiction will want to pick this one up. Recommended for general purchase for library collections where such books are popular. 3 stars, Gr 7 and up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. This was not my favorite of Browne’s books, but I do think it’s an important read. I would recommend this to students who were in high school when the pandemic began. I’m not sure students who were younger than that will be ready to process the collective trauma at this point.

I found this book a difficult read, but found some real feeling in it as well. The format, some letters, some conversations and some narration were not easy to follow, but the slightly disjointed text added to the discomfort we all should feel when looking back at the pandemic. I think the book did it's job as a time capsule of the fear and folly of COVID 19 and clearly delineates the ways it affected some people in far more devastating ways than others.

A hauntingly realistic snapshot of the anxiety, loss, resilience, and hope that many young people knew all too well at the height of the Covid pandemic. Full review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr317888

I love the premise of this book, but maybe it's too soon for me personally. I founded myself getting alternatively bored and anxious by many of the stories.

Sometimes it feels like we all moved on a little too fast from the lockdown era, and this book made me sit with thsoe emotions from that time period. Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this early!

Stars: 5 for being the kind of book that is a mirror and a sliding glass door.

My Thoughts:
This middle grade mixed voices, mixed form collection is definitely a mirror and a sliding glass door dedicated to the young people who had to shoulder the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in New York, but really across the United States. In my own little bubble in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it was easy to be in my own bubble, but I was also watching my own students on Zoom disappearing behind shut cameras, closed doors, muted mics because they were also in charge of their younger siblings, etc.

Although my husband and I had jobs, and mine was doable online and at home, our own adult children were having to make money delivering door dash and monitoring their own children's education at home. We were lucky that no one in our family got sick and/or died because my adult children have asthma or immuno-compromised diseases like lupus. Still this piece, taking place in a large, overcrowded city like New York where some young adults have lost both of their parents is chilling and heart breaking. This artwork of a novel brought all the feelings of helplessness and isolation back. This historical fiction book (yes, they are middle grades, this is already historical for them) will remind readers to hold on tight to their friends, to their freedom to wander, as well as their freedom to gather together. The prose is lyrical and heart breaking.

Pair this with other multi voiced middle grade books like the multi author anthology On the Block: Stories of Home edited by Ellen Oh, and/or Recognize: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life edited by Wayde and Cheryl Wilson.

From the Publisher:

Grief, pain, hope, and love collide in this short story collection.

In New York City, teens, their families, and their communities feel the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the fear and loss, these teens and the adults around them persevere with love and hope while living in difficult circumstances:

Malachi writes an Armageddon short story inspired by his pandemic reality.
Tariq helps their ailing grandmother survive during quarantine.
Zamira struggles with depression and loneliness after losing her parents.
Mohamed tries to help keep his community spirit alive.
A social worker reflects on the ways the foster system fails their children.
From award-winning author Mahogany L. Browne comes a poignant collection of interconnected prose, poems, and lists about the humanity and resilience of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Publication Information:
Author: Mahogany L. Browne

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers (March 11, 2025)

Print length: 153 pages

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Let me say that this book expressed a lot of the sentiments that I remember having during the pandemic. That time was so hard for a lot of people. This story being told through the voices of different people in a community is so representitive of what people were feeling and experiencing during that time. It was not only rough but a time of deep sadness for a lot of people. With so much loss during that time not only to death, but the loss of jobs, stability and community also put strain on so many folks and this books speaks to that. Great read.

As a fan of Mahogany L. Browne and a high school librarian, I knew I had to read this. Excellent decision!

There are very few books that hit so hard as soon as you read the last lines you have to start back at the beginning. This is one of those books. I am definitely not the intended audience. The pandemic is a tough topic. Mahogany L. Browne delivers a variety of voices that ring true and resonate. I look forward to getting this into students’ hands.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe is a deeply emotional and tragic mixed form collection of prose depicting the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in New York City. Told through mixed voices, this read tells the story of an interconnected community struggling through the terrifying and grief-ridden time that was the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.

The writing is tragically beautiful and the reader is immediately returned to the uncertainty of 2020, combined with the necessary resilience, hope, and love that kept people moving forward during this terrible time. This is really a story of community and perseverance, but is by no means a light-hearted read; indeed, the story is downright depressing for the vast majority. But as many tragic stories are, it’s also a very important and crucial read for generations going forward.

Thank you to Mahogany L. Browne, Random House, & NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne is a deeply emotional, interconnected collection of stories, poems, and vignettes that takes readers through the lived experiences of New Yorkers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through diverse characters—teens, their families, and their communities—we see resilience, loss, grief, and hope unfold in the shadow of the pandemic.

One of the most striking aspects of this book is how Browne weaves the voices of different characters together, each with their own unique perspective, yet all connected in some way. I loved how characters reappeared in different stories, allowing readers to track their journeys and relationships. The book is deeply grounded in truth, with footnotes that show Browne’s commitment to authenticity and real-life sources.

Reading these stories was a powerful reminder of how privilege shaped people's experiences during the pandemic. My own experience was vastly different, living in a suburban area with more stability and privilege, while the characters in the book faced job insecurity, isolation, and systemic inequities. Browne beautifully captures the complexities of their lives, making the reader reflect on how the pandemic affected different communities in distinct ways.

This is a heavy read, filled with raw emotion, but it’s also one that feels important—especially for anyone who remembers 2020, or even for younger readers who may only have hazy recollections of that time. The interconnected stories give this collection a unique sense of community, while highlighting the loneliness and isolation that so many felt during the pandemic.

While the first story, which introduces an Armageddon-like narrative, was jarring and hard to follow at first, it eventually makes sense in the context of the book’s broader themes. However, I do think it’s a strange choice to begin the book with it.

Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe is a time capsule, capturing the heartache, resilience, and hope that defined the pandemic for so many. It’s not an easy read, but it’s a necessary one. While it may not be the type of book that teens naturally pick up, it would be an excellent choice for discussion and reflection, especially for those who want to better understand how the pandemic shaped people’s lives, particularly those from marginalized communities.

When I picked up this book, I thought that maybe 2020 was far enough in the past for me to read about it with some distance. But Mahogany L. Browne's writing pulled me right in, and I found myself having to read it in chunks to really process it. 'A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe' is incredibly intimate, feeling almost like it's speaking directly to you.

Browne beautifully captures the voices of a wide range of characters, immersing the reader in each vignette. Between these vignettes we hear from the "chorus” of two teens who know these characters and are following the stories with us. The stories are woven together in a kaleidoscopic way, highlighting the connections within the community – which makes the isolation and loneliness even more poignant.

This book threw me right back into 2020, but it also showed how privilege drastically shaped people's experiences of the pandemic. The footnotes with sources throughout demonstrate Browne's commitment to authenticity. This book feels deeply grounded in truth. It's a heavy read, and I think it’s a important one for anyone who remembers 2020 and for even younger middle grades/YA readers who might have a hazy recollection of that time. I think it will stand the test of time as a powerful time capsule.

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne is a powerful and evocative poetry collection that captures the beauty and struggle of navigating life’s challenges. Browne’s lyrical prose speaks to resilience, identity, and the fight for justice, making this a thought-provoking and deeply emotional read. A stirring collection that resonates with readers on a profound level.