Mockingbird Finds His Voice was originally written over the summer of 2016. I had been trying for some time to write a story that explored how we acquire and develop the gifts that make us who we are. The impetus to use mockingbirds dates from much earlier, possible as far back as when I asked for a toy that reproduced a mockingbird’s song when I was six. Their use of mimicry, as they sang from the highest available perch to proclaim their territory, always seem like such a joyful, almost ecumenical act.
Mockingbirds have remained a strong presence in my life, and in the winter of 2015/16 I was again seeing them daily. At around the same time I was working with a brilliant young boy in kindergarten, who had a great deal of trouble staying focused. We drew together every week in art class which seemed to help him a great deal. He was able to carry the joy and sense of accomplishment he felt there with him as he approached tasks he found more difficult. Everything came together when I remembered a close friend telling me about his son, who had taken himself to see the “feelings” teacher at his progressive school to get help solving a problem. Sometimes simply finding someone who truly sees us can make all the difference.
Briefly, the story unfolds as follows.
Kevin, a young mockingbird, is sent to see the guidance counselor after he refers to his teacher’s practice of having each student repeat their name during roll call as “acting like a parrot.” He is young, but this kind of language cannot be tolerated, especially in a school for young birds.
His counselor is fortunately much more concerned with the frustration behind Kevin’s action that the act itself, and after talking with Kevin he discovers that he is simply bored. Drawing on Kevin’s natural abilities, he proposes that Kevin learn to mimic the other students’ voices as a means of keeping himself occupied when he might otherwise drift off. Start with the ones most like your own, and simply keep challenging yourself.
He is still discovered, of course, first by his best friend and other members of his class; and ultimately by his teachers. But by then both his confidence and focus in school have improved dramatically; and after all, he is simply becoming the bird he was always meant to be.
Like Kevin, I too had to learn to use my gifts in new ways. I originally hoped to find an illustrator, as I had little experience creating anthropomorphic animals. Developing a style wherein I could reveal my bird characters’ emotions, while sacrificing as little of their natural form as possible, stretched the project on several more years. In the end I found a voice I was comfortable speaking with. And I do hope that you enjoy the story it tells.
The book and drawings were first exhibited at “Three Books; Three Genres” in NYC in November of 2020.
The book is available as a print on demand title from Barnes and Noble, Inc.