HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Winter of the Birds (1975)

by Helen Cresswell

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
401618,445 (3.89)4
A young English boy with ambitions to be a hero learns about true heroism, affection, and the power of imagination when his neighborhood is threatened by multiplying flocks of steel birds.
None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 4 mentions

I approached this with fairly average expectations, having just read her "Up the Pier" (both acquired from a charity shop). "Up the Pier" was sketchy and went nowhere, and felt as though made up in a hurry; it was like the germ of an idea for a much longer book. Though "Moondial" is quite good.
But "Birds" was a lovely, truly magical read, involving a boy who'd love to be a hero, an area in decline with its church about to be demolished, and a battle between good and evil. Quite serious themes like attempted suicide (his uncle), adoption, a lonely old man, a rough area with bullying kids, are handled delicately and humanely. I think Patrick Finn, a mysterious figure who steps in and is the catalyst for change, takes his name from the Irish hero Finn McCool!
  PollyMoore3 | Oct 5, 2020 |
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of the imagination.
--John Keats: Letters

To kill fancy in childhood is to make a slave to what exists, a creature tethered to earth and therefore unable to credit heaven.
--Bertrand Russell
Dedication
For the memory of my mother
First words
All the drafts in the world go past this corner.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

A young English boy with ambitions to be a hero learns about true heroism, affection, and the power of imagination when his neighborhood is threatened by multiplying flocks of steel birds.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.89)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2
2.5
3 1
3.5 1
4 2
4.5 1
5 3

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,186,767 books! | Top bar: Always visible