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Birdgirl

‘Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ Margaret Atwood

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Birdgirl

By: Mya-Rose Craig
Narrated by: Mya-Rose Craig
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

"Birdwatching has never felt like a hobby, or a pastime I can pick up and put down, but a thread running through the pattern of my life, so tightly woven in that there's no way of pulling it free and leaving the rest of my life intact."


Meet Mya-Rose - otherwise known as 'Birdgirl'. Birder, environmentalist, diversity activist. To date she has seen over five thousand different types of bird: half the world's species.

Every single bird a treasure. Each sighting a small step in her family journey - a collective moment of joy and stillness amidst her mother's deepening mental health crisis. And each helping her to find her voice.

Since she was young, she has visited every continent to pursue her passion, seeing first-hand the inequality and reckless destruction we are inflicting on our fragile planet. And the simple, mindful act of looking for birds has made her ever-more determined to campaign for all our survival.

This is her story; a journey defined by her love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.

© Mya-Rose Craig 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Animals Biological Sciences Environment Environmentalists & Naturalists Mental Health Awareness Outdoors & Nature Professionals & Academics Science Conservation

Critic reviews

Lyrical, poignant and insightful. (Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE)
Mya-Rose Craig has done more than anyone to promote birding and environmental issues to young people from all backgrounds - especially women of colour - and deserves our admiration and praise. (Stephen Moss, author of THE ROBIN)
Mya-Rose's passion and dedication for the causes she believes in are testament to what we humans can achieve when we are at our best. (Liz Bonnin, President of the Wildlife Trust)
Craig manages to capture so vividly what birds mean to her and her family... filled with hope and energy.
Reads like a cross between a travel diary, an ornithologist's guide and a thriller.
A frank, open account of how birdwatching provided solace during Mya-Rose's teenage years... We are given an insight into a fascinating family of bird-lovers.
A must read for bird lovers.
Inspiring... A forthright and compelling chronicle by a remarkable birder, environmentalist, and advocative.
A talented memoirist and a passionate environmental advocate.
All stars
Most relevant
If you are birder listen to this book. If you are not a birder yet, listen to this book. I am now hooked and recently I spotted a large bird and filmed it on my phone and sent it to the local county recorder. It turned out to be an Osprey and it was an unusually late date for it to be spotted there in Cornwall. I'm also off to watch a murmuration this evening.

This is also a compassionate and insightful memoir of growing up with a mother suffering with mental health illness and how bird watching trips knits their family together.

Mya-Rose reads this beautifully - it was a wonderful audio journey to go on.

This book is for everyone

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An inspiring book for anyone remotely interested in the the environment. As well as birds of course!

Inspiring

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