y Review - (The full review is - http://sarityahalomi.blogspot.com/201...)

Although cancer and death are a part of a the story, the story never becomes depressing as Kelley balances humor and seriousness. From the first page to the last I couldn't put the book down.

Zeno expects everyone to think he's smart and beautiful. He’s an African grey parrot with a red tail. If he thinks a little too well of himself, Well, he does speak 127 words (Guess what words was the 128th and 129th), including a few in Greek. His owner was a professor of Greek Literature, so Zeno occasionally quotes the Greek philosopher Zeno. The proud parrot suddenly finds himself homeless (through the death of his devoted servant (known in human circles as his owner).

A lot of the humor in the story comes from Zeno’s mistakes. He doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. For instance, he refers to a statue of an angel as a Parrot-Man. He's expecting admiration. What he finds is that even the other birds don't care about him; it rains at night; and nobody is feeding him. He's not happy.

There is a little girl in a hospital bed in her room. She's not happy either. She's developed cancer and they are treating her, but she can't do anything either. She can't even walk anymore. Alya's body is still struggling to deal with the chemo treatments.
Day after day she lies in her bed, exhausted and losing hope. Her state of mind was in such a worse state that, when her best friends bring her to read "the secret garden" she stop reading it the moment she accouter the word - death.

Zeno has one thing on his mind: banana nut muffins. So when he sees one sitting on the girl’s window sill, he knows it’s meant for him. When Zeno tries to steal the banana nut muffin from her windowsill, Ayla thinks they might be friends. But Zeno gets carried away trying to find a safe place to live his bird life and they lose contact.

This chance meeting is the beginning of a long, hopeful, and confusing journey to friendship. The bird and the girl get a little worse for wear before the word comes along the "bird vine" that Ayla needs Zeno. The parrot is trying to figure out how this confusing place called Brooklyn works. More importantly, what kind of trees do banana nut muffins grow on?

As Zeno flies around Brooklyn, he is challenged by other birds. He has to escape from a cage. He has to find his way home through a storm. He has to learn the real meaning of “home.” But most importantly, he has to find his way back to Alya’s window.

While Zeno is completely free for the first time in his life, the girl Alya feels like a prisoner in her own house. His brusque arrogance is exactly what she needs to snap her out of her despair. As for Zeno, no one has needed before; this makes him feel special.

This book deal with larger ideas than an average animal story: (1). The importance of hope and how hope can be a gift from one person (or bird) to another, (2) Meanings of friendship - both characters begin thinking mostly of themselves, but by the end of the book their awareness and caring has expanded to include others.(3) Looking at different kinds of friendship - as Zeno meets new birds and Alya struggles to find common words with her old friends. (4) The meanings of freedom - "Zeno briyant. Zeno Great Escape. Zeno bite door. Zeno free". "Free good! Free Kathekon!'. "Zeno free! Zeno not pet" (5) The meanings of home - "You free! Free good! Free fly home..." (6) The meanings of loyalty - Zeno saved the dove Bunny from the hawk and when Bunny lose his strange and the other doves in the flock kept flying back home. Zeno said "Zeno need Bunny. Bunny need Zeno" and it stay with bunny all night long rubbing his beak along the back of Bunny neck. (7) Zeno's name allows Kelley to incorporate something from this Greece philosopher wisdom. ( )