Leaving Birdsong

In Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods’ moving stand-alone companion to The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA, Abigail and her family move from South Carolina to Detroit, as part of the Great Migration.

When Abigail’s family moves from the small town of Birdsong, South Carolina, to Detroit, she’s excited at the promise of a better, safer life with more opportunities for a Black family. This promise is fulfilled in places like the city’s impressive library, where she’s able to walk through the front door, rather than the back, and even meets her first Black librarian. But it doesn’t hold in the neighborhoods that reveal segregation still exists.

Abigail wants to be a writer and is determined to take it all in and be a great observer. Her new home offers plenty of material, and she’s inspired to write poems about Caesar, the funny boy next door who becomes her first friend, the fancy Gotham Hotel where her mom gets a job as a maid, and the sad story of a boy who robs her. There’s a lot to contend with, especially when the polio epidemic strikes close to home. Abigail’s new life is a big adjustment—and sometimes it makes her feel powerless. But she isn’t the type to cede control, so while she’s able to go with the flow, she’s also ready to take charge.