My Dad's a Birdman Book

My Dad's A Birdman by David Almond and illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Published: 2007
Age range: 7 years +

Brief Synopsis:
This is an imaginative story of fiction. It provides an element of descriptive wonder, set in a realistic real world setting. Jackie Crow is Lizzie's father, who sees himself as a 'Birdman'; somebody that can fly with man-made wings just like a bird. Lizzie is a young girl who takes on the mother figure in the household, looking after her father (who is perhaps dealing with depression after the loss of his wife). It is an endearing story of unconditional love, juxtaposed with the humorous and larger than life characters of Mr Poop and Auntie Doreen. The novel follows their journey as things start to change whilst preparing their wings for 'The Human Bird competition' to be held at the River Tyne near where they live. Will they fly or will they fall in the 'drink'?

My Opinion:
I would interpret this as a novel about loss, yet it is dealt with in a light-hearted manner, that it actually becomes a story of a man wanting to fly. The issue of loss is not dealt with directly, yet it is inferred between conversations between the characters. As a result Jackie has become detached from reality and yearns to be a bird, to be free and fly the great Northern skies, all to please and make his daughter Lizzie happy. Almond shows the role reversal of parent and child, Lizzie has responsibilities other than school, becoming a carer for her father by making sure that he is eating well.

David Almond creates a light-hearted atmosphere about a serious issue. This is a good book to use to enlighten and develop the use of imagination in writing and inform students of loss. For this reason, I think this novel should be used as an example to explain the different types of households and families that exist. To cement the idea that everyone has their own type of family unit. The novel ends with the moral that it's not the winning that matters but the taking part. This fits in well with highlighting the importance of participation. In the novel even though the characters fail to take off into flight like a bird, they become closer and showed that regardless of their situation, they still care for one another.

Uses In The Classroom:
This is a simple book, in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure, to read to children aged six, however children aged eight and above will get the most out of it. The long descriptions will help them in identifying how to tackle creative writing. Ideal to be read aloud to a class, which could be completed within a week as it's not very long. This is a good resource for cross curricular activities, to be used to support topics in art, drama, science, design and technology and literacy.

For a key stage one class, after reading through the whole novel, asking students to draw their own 'Birdman' competition entry will allow them to be creative and express themselves in art lessons. A further development would be within science and topics of forces, resistance and weight. To use the idea of creating wings, allowing students to think what the best materials will be to glide through the air. Looking at different modes of flight and how it can be adapted to a smaller scale. This enriches a child's imagination as well as developing their problem solving skills.

With a key stage 2, Year 3-4 class a good incorporation of the book would be to use the theatre adapted version and teach students, 'reading theatre'. To be used within literacy lessons, this would help them understand the uses of emphasis in reading and, promote confidence in reading and acting out scenarios. Enabling students to understand how punctuation can be used to represent excitement, anger, frustration and different moods and emotions. Within science and design and technology, the idea of creating wings to fly though the sky would be a good project to support the novel read within literacy lessons. Children would first learn about resistance and force, and then they would research the best materials to use to make models that will fly the best. This can be put into practice by putting students into groups and measuring which model travels the furthest.