Flyaway
Suzie Gilbert discovered her true calling when she began working at a local animal hospital. Soon she started taking in unwanted parrots and volunteering at a raptor rehabilitation center. From there it was a short flight to her ultimate commitment: Flyaway, Inc., the nonprofit wild bird rehabilitation center she ran out of her own home.
With heart and delightful wit, Gilbert chronicles daily life in her household-cum-bird-hospital, and recounts the resulting chaos as she, her husband, and their two young children struggled to live in a home where parrots shrieked Motown songs and recuperating herons took over the spare bathroom. Flyaway is a remarkable story of compassion for and dedication to beautiful creatures—and the importance of pursuing even the most unlikely of dreams.
Reviews
“Free-spirited animal lover shares the ups and downs of five years spent rehabilitating injured birds from her Hudson Valley home. . . . She comically describes her house becoming a veritable circus of wild birds, with a great blue heron in the shower, grackles in the flight cage, a duckling in the living room and waxwings perched wherever there was room. The author’s two children, in particular, add purpose and exuberance to her story. Readers will acquire education aplenty from Gilbert's discussions of the creatures she encounters and the challenges rehabbers face.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Funny and insightful. . . . Most of us see birds through binoculars and windows. Suzie Gilbert has entered their lives.”
— Carl Zimmer, The New York Times
“Fascinating . . . . A testament to the challenges we all face when we love another being.” — Stacey O'Brien, author of Wesley the Owl
“Charms, delights, and educates while providing a fascinating tale of love and devotion to the feathered creatures that share our increasingly crowded world.”
— Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me
“Unique and engaging . . . [Gilbert] shows reveals in elegant prose how every creature has value, and how a voice for one is voice for all.”
— Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Mozart’s Starling and The Urban Bestiary
340 pp | ISBN: 978-0-06-156313-3
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