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In this children’s fantasy from 1962, a mysterious and birdlike boy approaches the children of a small school. One by one, he teaches them to fly.
Simple yet deep, beautiful and bittersweet and very very magical. The flying scenes, especially the very first one in which he teaches twelve-year-old Charlotte to fly by flapping her arms, capture the intense longing for magic that some of us felt as children, along with the sense that it might just be possible.
I have a recurring dream in which I can fly, in a manner that is very much like the one depicted here. In the dream, it’s something I used to know how to do but had forgotten for years, and only just remembered. Always, I memorize how to do it, so I won’t forget again. Always, I wake up and find it almost impossible to believe that it was only a dream, that I can’t really fly, and – by far the hardest part to believe - that I have never been able to fly.
This is the first book in a loose trilogy about the sisters Emma and Charlotte Makepeace; I think all three books are standalones involving the same characters. The second, which I own but haven’t read yet, is Emma in Winter. The third book, Charlotte Sometimes, is by far the best-known of the three and is the only one still in print and easily available. It’s been a while since I read it but I do recall it being more literary and complex. That being said, I like this one more. The Summer Birds captures a very specific concept and mood, that you once could fly and could again if you can only remember how, better than anything else I’ve ever read. If you too dream of flight, you have to read this.
Used copies are very expensive on Amazon but cheaper on Abebooks and other used book finders. Or your library might have it.
The Summer Birds
Simple yet deep, beautiful and bittersweet and very very magical. The flying scenes, especially the very first one in which he teaches twelve-year-old Charlotte to fly by flapping her arms, capture the intense longing for magic that some of us felt as children, along with the sense that it might just be possible.
I have a recurring dream in which I can fly, in a manner that is very much like the one depicted here. In the dream, it’s something I used to know how to do but had forgotten for years, and only just remembered. Always, I memorize how to do it, so I won’t forget again. Always, I wake up and find it almost impossible to believe that it was only a dream, that I can’t really fly, and – by far the hardest part to believe - that I have never been able to fly.
This is the first book in a loose trilogy about the sisters Emma and Charlotte Makepeace; I think all three books are standalones involving the same characters. The second, which I own but haven’t read yet, is Emma in Winter. The third book, Charlotte Sometimes, is by far the best-known of the three and is the only one still in print and easily available. It’s been a while since I read it but I do recall it being more literary and complex. That being said, I like this one more. The Summer Birds captures a very specific concept and mood, that you once could fly and could again if you can only remember how, better than anything else I’ve ever read. If you too dream of flight, you have to read this.
Used copies are very expensive on Amazon but cheaper on Abebooks and other used book finders. Or your library might have it.
The Summer Birds
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I love both The Summer Birds and Charlotte Sometimes, but o never found Emma in Winter (although I knew it existed!). Would love to find out what it’s about.
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I will read Emma in Winter next!
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I forgot about the sequels. I know I read them, but they didn't leave any impression, whereas Summer Birds I reread passionately.
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I have been looking for this book for DECADES. I thought it was a short story, not a standalone book. I remember loving it... especially the learning to fly scene, which is etched in my memory.
THANK YOU!
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Does anyone accuse the flying boy of thinking he's a bodhisattva? (Does he have a brother?) ... I read a book in which that was a thing, and the boy was special and ethereal/strange, but those are the only details I remember....
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I will see if I can chase down a copy of this one, because it sounds right up my alley.
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Same. Flapping to get up into the air, then breaststroke motions once I'm up and horizontal. And always, that initial realisation of "oh, that's right, of course I can fly. I'd forgotten I could. And I'd told myself it was just a recurring dream, because I'd forgotten that I can fly. But now I remember."
Always, I wake up and find it almost impossible to believe that it was only a dream, that I can’t really fly, and – by far the hardest part to believe - that I have never been able to fly.
For me when I wake up (or woke up, it's been at least five years since I've had that dream) some of the joy comes with me into the waking world, and I'm too happy to be disappointed I can't still fly.
It's fascinating how common flying dreams are, and how often the details are the same between people.
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I didn't have flying dreams so much as a kid, but falling dreams where I'd head over the edge of a cliff or over a freeway guardrail and then I'd convince myself I was flying. It almost always worked (I have lost this ability now). Or sometimes when I was in danger I'd be able to shoot straight up from the ground and then fly off into the sky.