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Goldie Bird follows an 11-year-old girl who copes with her sister leaving for college and her great aunt’s death on the same day, and navigates grief and loneliness, while searching for belonging. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
When a longtime friend read through my first draft of the book, she asked me what percent of Goldie was ME. I hadn’t thought that I was writing bits of who I was into my main character, but in looking back, how could I not? We write what we know, and fiction gives us the power to embellish our own experiences and forge new paths and outcomes. I have memories of traveling with my mother and siblings to lay my great-grandmother to rest. The backdrop to my story, the small town of Charlotte, Illinois, is a fictional place that takes much inspiration from bits of things and places that have meant something to me. My characters, too, have qualities that remind me of pieces of personalities and mannerisms of people I have known.
Goldie experiences multiple losses at once. Why was it important to layer those changes together?
Goldie must certainly have anticipated spending time differently with her mother once Elise would be at college. She never got to find out what that would be like, though, as the timing of her great aunt’s death and the events that followed changed the course of what Goldie had expected. I believe the compounded losses have a strong impact on Goldie as well as readers of the book—Goldie has much to overcome and figure out, and the pain is magnified by her own grief and her mother’s unavailability. Goldie must figure out how to navigate her days as she settles into her new place in her family.
Why weave in references to The Little Prince, and what does that story mean to Goldie?
Goldie’s first and subsequent encounters with Kip revolved around The Little Prince, a book assigned to Kip as a class project. Goldie had also read the book with her beloved sister before she left for college. The book serves as a connection to Kip and to Elise, but also, as the story progresses, to Goldie’s father, who highlighted part of the text before sending his copy of The Little Prince to Goldie. Goldie finds parallels with characters in the book as she explores her new relationships.
The “small world” realization near the end is powerful. Why was that moment important?
I believe Goldie’s discovery of who her father is showed her that we are always growing and changing, and when we are going through losses and challenges, there is also hope—and there are new, joyful discoveries waiting for us.
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But when she joins her mother for a trip to Heritage where her late aunt lived, Goldie forms an unlikely friendship with Kip, a sweet boy with an infectious sense of adventure. Kip shows Goldie the carefree thrills of birch bending and secret caves where the two bond over common experiences and escape the complexities of the adults around them.
As she reluctantly returns to her life, Goldie must adjust to being a middle schooler as things at home become more challenging. Despite her deep love for her sister and mother, Goldie feels unsure of where she fits in their lives, forcing her to grapple with the bittersweet aspects of growing up and letting go of the way things used to be.
With her frequent letters from Kip and her new friend, Kate, by her side, Goldie tries to navigate all that comes her way on the quest for acceptance and belonging. In this timeless, coming-of-age novel, Goldie symbolizes the universal experience of deep familial connections, friendship, and self-identity.
Goldie Bird
Goldie Bird follows Goldie, a quiet eleven-year-old who feels stuck in the middle of big changes. Her big sister Elise leaves for college on the same day their great aunt Aida dies, so Goldie and her mom drive to clean out Aida’s apartment at the Courtyard. There Goldie meets Kip and his grandpa Charlie, discovers a secret lagoon and “birch bending,” and starts to see the world in a new way, with sunsets, birds, and books like The Little Prince woven into her days. Later, back home over the shop where her mom works, she finds her own place with Mr. Quinn, his daughter Rosa, and even Aida’s bird Smiley, slowly building a new little circle of people who feel like family.
The writing is gentle and cozy, like someone telling you a long, honest story. I liked being in Goldie’s head. She is not loud or dramatic. She notices tiny things instead. The smell of soap in Aida’s bathroom. The way Kip’s hair curls up at the edges. The sound of Rosa chanting “Goldie. Bird.” at the cage. Those small details made the book feel real for me. The whole birch-bending scene by the lagoon felt like pure childhood magic, messy and muddy and a little dangerous, and I could almost feel the cold water when they crash into the lagoon and laugh so hard their stomachs ache.
The ideas underneath all that quiet stuff resonated with me more than I expected. The book leans hard into grief, change, and found family, but it does it in a very tender way. I liked how often the story comes back to birds and sunsets and The Little Prince. Those threads make the book feel like one big tapestry about being small in a huge world and still mattering. Grandpa Charlie talking about sunsets staying with you when you feel like you have nothing left really got to me. I also liked the “small world” feeling near the end, where Goldie starts to notice how people connect in surprising ways and realizes she might not be as alone, even in her family history, as she once thought.
It is not a fast book though. Sometimes the plot just strolls along, and the focus stays inside Goldie’s thoughts. If you want huge twists or big action scenes, you might feel impatient. There are a lot of quiet kitchen talks, slow days in the shop, long letters, and moments of Goldie just thinking and feeling. Personally, I liked that pace. It gave me space to sit with her sadness about her dad and her sister and Aida and also watch her slowly stretch into someone braver. It feels more like real life than a high-drama movie.
I would recommend Goldie Bird for middle-grade readers who enjoy thoughtful, character-focused stories, probably ages ten to fourteen, and also for adults who like gentle coming-of-age books that still carry emotional weight. It is perfect for a kid who feels like the quiet one in the family, or someone going through big changes like a move, a loss, or a sibling leaving home. If you like books with found family, soft boys like Kip, kind grandpas, and shy girls who are secretly very brave, this one will probably land right in your heart.
Pages: 257 | ASIN : B0G3KHDBP6
