This is a small gem of a novel which, with graceful, sensitive prose, opens up the possibilities that come with difference. It champions being true to yourself and learning to live your one precious life. Nashville hatched from an egg and he is a boy with some birdlike features, a changeling who is loved by his family and marvelled at by his community. He understands nature, particularly birds, but he feels constrained by his humanness; he yearns to be free and you want to weep at his sweet oddness.

If you like your tales to be a little bit eccentric with a touch of magic then this lyrical gift of a story is for you. As the good folk of Nashville’s town say ‘there ain’t nothing that’s impossible’.

For ages 8 to 11.

Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn.