Bird Mouth

From Robin Gow, the award-winning author of Dear Mothman, comes a moving middle-grade novel in verse about a nonbinary middle schooler who finds their voice on a choir trip to New York City

A lot has changed in Calliope’s life since they came out as nonbinary, but the biggest change by far has been the birds. Calliope always loved singing . . . until the day a mourning dove flew out of their mouth in the middle of “Ave Maria.” Now Calliope can’t hum a note without a bird appearing, so they’re forced to mouth the lyrics in choir even though they long to sing.

When the time comes for the eighth-grade choir trip to New York City, Calliope worries they won’t be able to hide their secret any longer. But how will people react? What if Marie, Dani, and Feliz-the coolest kids in choir-don’t want to be friends with them anymore? And what if Calliope finally stopped caring . . . and sang anyway?

Told in Robin Gow’s signature moving verse, Bird Mouth is a heartfelt story of identity, belonging, and finding the people who love you, magical birds and all.