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Flip the Bird eBook Kym Brunner

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Flip the Bird eBook Kym Brunner

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was definitely a page turner at the end. I did not know anything about falconry prior to reading. Using falconry in the book was quite unique, and made it even more interesting. I really appreciate the positive message. Be true to yourself, don't change your beliefs to get someone to like you, and family is truly important.


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Flip the Bird eBook Kym Brunner Reviews

“Flip the Bird” by Kym Brunner is an excellent YA novel that deals with a significant issue (the rights of protester versus those of the people being targeted by the protest); an intriguing sport (falconry); and the importance of honesty in relationships. The conflicts are believable and meaningful, and the descriptions vivid. The protagonist-narrator, Mercer, is totally sympathetic as well as being completely authentic. Although some of the other characters, especially Lucy’s parents, do come across as stereotypical fanatics, the overall effect is to move the plot along effectively.

As explained in the plot summary, the main conflict revolves around the fanatical “animal rights activism” of Lucy’s parents versus the ethos of raptor rehabilitation and falconry-as-sport of Mercer’s father plus the medical research using canine lab animals being done by his mother. Mercer first tries to pursue his romance with Lucy via dishonesty and concealment. Obviously, this does not work out well.

Although I’ve never been involved with falconry, I’ve recently become very fascinated with watching live streaming from several raptor nests, specifically bald eagles and ospreys. This past season, there was one very exciting eagle nest in Southwest Florida where one of the eaglets, E8, was rescued twice by CROW (Clinic for Rehabilitation of Wildlife), so I was especially in tune with the raptor rehab aspects of this book. I think it is a very worthwhile and enjoyable story.
Flip the Bird by Kym Brunner caught my eye from the title alone. I am suspecting teens and tweens may check it out for that reason alone. However, there is a lot to this book that makes it worth every second of reading and goes well beyond the title.

Mercer wants to be a master falconer like his father. He works at his family's raptor rehabilitation center already and has his own bird, Flip, that he is working with as well.

About the only time Mercer's not focused on his birds is when he's busy thinking about Lucy. Lucy is cute and bubbly and Mason would love to ask her out.

Unfortunately Lucy's parents are animal rights activists of the most extreme kind. Everything Lucy's parents believe in seems to be the opposite of what Mercer's family stands for. But of course Mercer can't give up just because their parents don't see eye to eye, right?

I learned a ton about raptors, and falconry and animal rights. Brunner incorporated this subject into her novel seamlessly. And, I loved the romance that was just trying to get off the ground. This is a fantastic read (although maybe a little overwhelming in length at 368 pages to some readers).

I am excited to see what Brunner write next and am hoping this is just the beginning of a great career writing for teen readers.
I work with birds of prey and educate kids about them, so I thought this would be a fun book and one that I would recommend. It's a great idea for a book, but it's not one that I would recommend to kids. It's overly objectifying to women. Most of the female characters are vapid and one dimensional and, for a kid's book, it's awfully sexual. I know it's about a 14 year old trying to meet a girl, but wow. This book is aimed at 12 year olds.

Here's the first passage I tagged "Apparently Lauren wasn't throwing herself at Lincoln [the brother] like all the other girls he'd been with. "She wasn't 'in the mood last night,' huh?' He shook his head, "Not any night. Not with anyone....but she's got a smoking-hot body, so it's worth the wait."

And the second
"Her skimpy, low-cut shirt made sure everyone noticed her set of twins, which I'd bet ten bucks were adopted. Who was this bimbo...After spending only two minutes with Zola, I'd guess her IQ matched her bra size, a 40 double dutch."

Really? Twelve year old boys need to read that? I have 12 passages like this dog-eared. Almost every interaction with the girls is centered on them wearing bikinis to wash cars or the tightness of their shirts. I get that it's aimed at pre-teen boys, but we should set that bar a little higher, I think.

The plot seems a bit forced too, but probably mostly because the female characters are so flat and lifeless. It's a bit weird to say that, since this is a female author, but the only two characters that seem to have any dimension are Mercer and his dad (the falconers). If you're in to falconry, even that seems a little forced. I can tell the author did research, but I can also tell she's never really shared space with these birds. Her description of falconry seems clinical and stilted.

The word play is fun and there are many puns, but that's about the only thing I liked. I would never recommend a book to young men that objectifies women like this one does. You can write a fun pre-teen romance without talking about bikinis and double ds, for goodness sake.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was definitely a page turner at the end. I did not know anything about falconry prior to reading. Using falconry in the book was quite unique, and made it even more interesting. I really appreciate the positive message. Be true to yourself, don't change your beliefs to get someone to like you, and family is truly important.