How to Heal a Broken Wing

Do you want to help teach your child empathy? How about a love and respect for living things? I received How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham from PJ Library about a month ago and loved it. The book begins with this sentence, “High above the city, no one heard the soft thud of feathers against glass. No one saw the bird fall. No one looked down…except Will.” Will sees this injured bird and chooses to take it home and rehabilitate it back to a healthy state. The illustrations are powerful and easy for a child to engage in. At the end of the story, Will releases the once injured bird back into the sky.

What can this book teach your child? There are many valuable lessons to learn from this children’s book. It’s about respecting all living things and doing our part as humans to help others within our environment. How to Heal a Broken Wing is also about teaching different emotions such as sadness, hopefulness, happiness, etc. Ask your child open ended questions such as “What would you do if you found an injured bird?”, “How does Will help the bird feel better again?”, “How does Will feel when he releases the bird back in the sky?” There is no right or wrong answer to these questions because Will must have felt both sad and happy to release the bird again. Open ended questions are ideal within this context which helps your child gain confidence in their answers and build their language and imagination.

Bob Graham has written a beautiful book with many valuable lessons that both children and adults can appreciate. This book also adheres well to sequencing, inferencing, answering ‘wh” questions and using print referencing strategies. To learn how to use print referencing strategies, click here.

How to Heal a Broken Wing