Birdgirl

October 1, 2022

Known as Birdgirl, 20-year-old British-Bangladeshi birder, environmentalist, and diversity activist Craig travels the world with her family in search of rare birds and the beauties of nature, which give her comfort in the face of her mother's continuing mental health crisis. The founder of Black2Nature, which encourages teenagers of color to engage with environmental causes, she here decries both the destruction of the natural world and the consequences of ongoing racism.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 5, 2022
“Birdwatching... is a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven that there’s no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact” writes Craig in her dynamic debut. Born to a British father and Bangladeshi mother, Craig grew up in a family of fervent birdwatchers (or “twitchers”) for whom the activity wasn’t a hobby, but a means of survival. She recounts her family using travel to cope with her bipolar mother’s intensifying mood swings and troubling thoughts, sharing how they came together to search for birds in exotic destinations and traversed all seven continents before the author turned 15. As well, Craig touches on her 2016 founding of the charity Black2Nature, a platform to help give "visible minority ethnic" people better access to the outdoors (“To have a real shot at saving our world, we must involve every ethnicity as a matter of urgency”), sprinkles in background on endangered species and conservation efforts to save them, and offers something of a bird-watching 101 that covers techniques and explains the field’s jargon. This will inspire nature-minded readers.

February 1, 2023

Craig, known for her Birdgirl blog, environmental activism, and racial equity work, shares stories of her early birding days. Each chapter opens with a bird sketch and profile that matches either the tone or message of the succeeding pages. Primarily homeschooled and tutored as her family traveled the world birding, Craig became the only child to ever complete a Big Year, which is when a birder challenges themselves or competes informally with others to identify as many bird species as possible by sound or sight within one calendar year. Her accomplishments bring steep lessons in racism, elitism, and prejudice as she shares her birding progress on social media and learns to navigate the pitfalls of fame. For example, she was the on the environmental scene well before Greta Thunberg, yet comparisons persist. This book also focuses on her mother's diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and her family's dynamic within each birding trip. Birds remain a constant source of wonder as she navigates ecotourism, high school, and ambassadorship. VERDICT This is Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle meets Neil Hayward's Lost Among the Birds, and it will likely generate strong millennial appeal as well.--Tina Panik

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Starred review from March 1, 2023
Born into a British Bangladeshi birding family and taken on her first ""twitch"" (search for rare birds) when she was only nine days old, it was no surprise that Craig became obsessed with birds. That this passion led to environmental and Indigenous rights activism while she was also dealing with her mother's mental illness is what makes this memoir so inspiring. As part of a mixed-race household, the author was raised with an awareness of both cultures and of the fact that British birders were predominantly white. As she compiled her first ""Big Year"" (at age six) alongside her parents, the first signs of her mother's condition became apparent. Full of energy and enthusiasm for her family and work, her mother would suddenly crash into bedridden lethargy. Though she was finally diagnosed as bipolar and placed on medication, what saved the family was birding, and chapters detailing the excitement as well as the drudgery of international birding trips make the reader feel as if they were there. Seeing other countries and how Indigenous peoples live moved Craig to create her blog, Birdgirl, and become an environmental activist with a focus on involving other young people of color. This is a forthright and compelling chronicle by a remarkable birder, environmentalist, and advocate.

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Starred review from January 15, 2023
A coming-of-age memoir from an environmentalist and avid birder. Craig, a 20-year-old British Bangladeshi birder and diversity activist, begins by attempting to identify when she first became involved with "twitching" (bird-watching). "I don't remember when I became obsessed with birds; it seems to me as though I've been birding forever," she writes. "Given that my parents took me on my first twitch when I was nine days old, it's easy to see why I might feel that way." The author introduces us to her family and then dives into her lifelong obsession with bird-watching, which "has never felt like a hobby; it's not a pastime I can pick up and put down but a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven that there's no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact." While following her journey from her first Big Year ("a calendar year in which you try to see as many species of bird as possible within a given geographical area") to her family's trips to seven continents, we witness Craig finding her identity, balancing her life as "birdgirl" and ordinary teen, and growing her influence as an environmental advocate. Although the descriptions of her travels and countless interesting birds are eye-opening and fascinating, it's the author's sharp focus on how bird-watching became an important part of the family's process of working with her mother's mental illness that makes the text stand out from other birding memoirs. From the use of their "Craig Family Harmony Index" on extended trips through numerous doctor's visits and medication changes, Craig and her family have remained devoted to each other. "Today, we have no expectation that traveling or anything else is going to make Mum's mental health situation go away," she writes, "but we are better as a family when we do it." An excellent mix of travelogue, memoir, and advocacy.

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