The Summer Birds (Aviary Hall # 1), by Penelope Farmer

[rachelmanija]

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

Comments

[yhlee]

I must find this. I too have recurring dreams of flying. My favorite was flying out in space and having to be careful of the gravitational wells of stars and black holes and planets.

[rachelmanija]

How cool! I've never flown in space.

[maplemood]

I checked, and unfortunately my library doesn't have this one, but I'll need to see if I can find a copy somewhere else, because this sounds lovely.

[rachelmanija]

There are places where you can download a pdf.

[mrissa]

Charlotte Sometimes has other books? but. but. oh my.

[rachelmanija]

Yes! It's the third in a series.

[minoanmiss]

Oh wow.

[cyphomandra]

I have dreams of flying, too; often just hovering over the ground, or running in increasingly large bounds, and it always feels perfectly natural - and deeply disappointing when I wake up.

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.

[rachelmanija]

Yes! It feels so natural, like of course I can do this, that makes waking up and knowing I can't really seem all the more incomprehensible and bizarre.

I will read Emma in Winter next!

[sartorias]

Easily my favorite book in junior high. It felt like it was written just for me.

I forgot about the sequels. I know I read them, but they didn't leave any impression, whereas Summer Birds I reread passionately.

[rachelmanija]

Thanks for reccing it to me! I loved it.

[ellenmillion]

!!!!!!

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!

[rachelmanija]

Aww, that's fantastic! Please report back when you read it!

[osprey_archer]

This sounds magical. My library doesn't have it, but it sounds like it would be worth trying inter-library loan for this one.

[rachelmanija]

It would be right up your alley.

[asakiyume]

I have flying dreams from time to time, too, incredibly realistic. Periodically I try in the everyday waking world. You never know; it doesn't hurt to try.

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....

[rachelmanija]

No, and no brother either. Could that be Kathe Koja's Buddha Boy?

[asakiyume]

The novel I'm thinking of was from much earlier--would have been 1980s at the latest. But I can see why you thought of this one!

[helen_keeble]

That reminds me of the middle grade book where a Canada goose teaches a girl to fly (I think it was a Newberry medal winner or something? But no one died and it wasn’t tragic!). I LOVED that book.

I will see if I can chase down a copy of this one, because it sounds right up my alley.

[helen_keeble]

... bah. It looks like this one is SPECTACULARLY out of print in the UK, if it ever was published here at all.

[ethelmay]

The Fledgling, by Jane Langton?

[illariy]

Oh, this sounds lovely. As a child, I too could fly in dreams and yearned for it to be true irl. My way of flying involved swimming motions with the arms, though, in breaststroke.

[vass]

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.

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.

[kore]

I didn't know Charlotte Sometimes was part of a series, that's neat!

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.