How To Make a Bird is a stunner of a picture book. In heart-shivering, lyrical prose, Meg McKinlay details the process of creating a bird, and, in doing so, illuminates the transformative potential of the creative process – from conceptualising and gathering the materials, to adding unique touches, and, finally, letting your idea loose on the world.

Illustrations from artist and musician Matt Ottley accompany McKinlay’s text and depict a solitary young maker at work against the backdrop of a stark, windblown ocean shore. Ottley’s distinctive style is partially inspired by his synaesthesia, and there is an inherent musicality to his art, his exquisitely detailed line drawings awash with soft, dreamy hues.

McKinlay’s use of second-person narrative creates a powerful sense of intimacy and immediacy in this work: ‘To make a bird / you will need a lot of very tiny bones.’ A certain element of magic is essential to the success of any creative endeavour and that moment is beautifully evoked here when the girl’s makeshift bird, constructed with delicate bones, broken shells, and other found objects, takes soaring flight.

Bronte Coates is the digital content manager and the Readings Prizes manager.