Matthew Burgess: Hi. My name is Matthew Burgess and I'm the author of Bird Boy, illustrated by the wonderful Shahrzad Maydani. The story of Bird Boy springs from several sources. I had been thinking about the value of solitary play and the importance of not necessarily responding with alarm when children possess the ability to be by themselves, to be solitary without necessarily feeling lonely. And as a teaching artist who's spent many years teaching poetry in early elementary classrooms, while simultaneously teaching so-called grown-ups at Brooklyn College, I often think about this question of when our creativity seems to fade and how our education system might play into this process in spite of the best intentions of the educators. What happens when in the process of socialization we become concerned with fitting in, with doing something the right way, rather than following our genuine curiosity and interests, those big heart-led questions, as well as the things that bring us joy?

Nico's predicament in Bird Boy, being the new kid, is in looking around and trying to find a place where he might fit in. And that's a situation that all kids are in, whether you're a new kid or not. This experience of looking around at the social situation, weighing the various options that are available to you, and assessing the risks of joining with being true to yourself. In other words, do you remember when you were a kid trying to figure out how to fit in to whatever seemed socially celebrated or acceptable and how that effort to conform often involves shutting down or compromising one's authentic self? Nico is a quiet hero in my eyes because he has the wherewithal, or the wisdom, or just the inner resources in that moment of being labeled Bird Boy in a teasing way of making a different choice.

Rather than looking at himself and seeing himself as the problem, he finds an opportunity within the moment and he converts what would otherwise be a really hurtful experience into an invitation for imaginative play. Nico provides a model, I think, for how one might respond to teasing or criticism, how we could also access our own imagination and stay on our own side. Instead of saying, "Oh, there's something wrong with me." we might think, "What do I love? What interests me? What do I like to do?" And, for me, that led to the line that's on the book jacket -- being true to yourself attracts the truest friends.

Bird Boy by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Shahrzad Maydani.

Nico was nervous walking the path to class alone with a backpack full of stones. That's how it felt. Nico is new, so when everyone knew what to do and where to go, he was left, well, a little lost. But there were other things to do besides sports and standing in huddles whispering. Such as watching the insects crossing a crack in the blacktop like climbers over a mountain pass. Or sitting in the grass like a statue with the sun on your face until one bird hopped toward him, waiting, with shining eyes and a side-curved head. One bird, then two. Word had spread. And flutter, swoop, whistle, chirp. That's how Nico became known as Bird Boy.

Nico knew when someone was making fun of him, and yes, it hurt his feeling, but he turned the name over in his mind a few times and smiled. It surprised him too. Bird Boy. Soon Nico imagined himself as an eagle, soaring over a forest, and a penguin diving off an iceberg into freezing aquamarine waters.