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book cover for First There Was Bird

First There Was Bird

with Leo Trinidad (Illustrator)

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Pub Date Aug 4 2026 | Archive Date Dec 15 2026

Red Chair Press | One Elm Books


Description

First there was Bird. Then there was Bird-Bird. And now, Third Bird.

Magnolia's daddy won the beloved cockatiel Third Bird at a carnival, just before he died in a car accident. Magnolia promised to always take good care of Third Bird . . . but then she loses him, when she accidentally allows the bird to fly from his cage at her mama's beauty salon.

Magnolia's grief, for her father and for her lost bird, opens up a whole new world of friends as they search not only for Third Bird but for acceptance and healing. Helping her mama to see that physical beauty is not important (even in a family that comes from “a long line of beauty queens”), Magnolia becomes the star of her small Southern town as she finds hope and light in the healing of her grief and learns that sometimes when you go looking for one thing, you find what you really need.

First there was Bird. Then there was Bird-Bird. And now, Third Bird.

Magnolia's daddy won the beloved cockatiel Third Bird at a carnival, just before he died in a car accident. Magnolia promised to...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9798991123716
PRICE $16.99 (USD)
PAGES 144

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Average rating from 2 members


Featured Reviews

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There Was Bird is the kind of middle grade that lingers. Magnolia is a beautifully drawn protagonist — a girl quietly suffocating under her family's beauty queen legacy who finds her real self through grief, community, and a missing cockatiel named Third Bird. High weaves loss and healing together with a light, sure hand, and the "Dead Daddies Club" friendship at the heart of the story is both funny and genuinely moving.

The search for Third Bird gives the plot a propulsive, chapter-turning energy, and the emotional payoff earns every mile of it. A standout middle grade about finding what you really need when you go looking for something else.

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I re read this and thought it was a fun solid read for middle grade kids. I ended up liking the story and the characters over all after all. It was a cute story.

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