Praise for Blue Birds

Winner of the Virginia Library Association’s 2016 Jefferson Cup for Young Readers

“Composed in varying formats, the descriptive and finely crafted poems reveal the similarities the two girls share, from loved ones lost to hatred between the English and the Roanoke to a desire for peace . . . Fans of Karen Hesse and the author’s May B. (2012) will delight in this offering.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A memorable account of a friendship that transcends culture and prejudice.”

—Publishers Weekly

“An excellent historical offering . . . belongs on public and school library shelves.”

—VOYA

“With two compelling main characters and an abundance of rich historical detail, Rose’s latest novel offers much to discuss and much to appreciate.”

—School Library Journal

“An imaginative historical novel with two sympathetic protagonists.”

—Booklist

“Themes of fear and freedom will appeal to a wide audience.”

—School Library Connection

“Using language that’s both plain and exquisite, Caroline Starr Rose weaves history seamlessly into the stories of two girls with distinct backgrounds and voices. The crossing lives gave me a big world that lingered past the pages.”

—Jeannine Atkins, author of Borrowed Names

“Rose has given us a complex story, a real and researched story, a story that, despite its roots in late-sixteenth-century America, feels contemporary. In bringing readers Alis and Kimi, Rose has not just brought us a distant era. She’s brought her readers a way of sinking in with real questions about difference—and a credible suggestion that such differences might be overcome.”

—Beth Kephart, author of This Is the Story of You