Mary Quattlebaum
Each short chapter is narrated by a different sibling: snarky India, worrywart Finn and whimsical "child genius" Mouse. These constant shifts in perspective create suspense and contribute to the novel's eerie, dreamlike quality. The humdinger of an ending helps explain this off-kilter world while leaving much to ponder.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Best known for her Newbery Honor–winning historical fiction, Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts) forays into high-concept fantasy with mixed results. Having lost the family home to foreclosure, the widowed schoolteacher mother of three—India, Finn, and Mouse Tompkins—puts them on a plane to Denver to live with an uncle while she finishes out the academic year in California. After some turbulence, the plane lands, but what follows is a hallucinatory journey, which unfolds in alternating first-person chapters narrated by each sibling. The trio is given a rock star welcome by the residents of a city called Falling Bird, chauffeured in a pink, feathered taxi by a 12-year-old, and offered dream homes and—except for six-year-old Mouse—jobs. They sense something's amiss, and after some soul-searching, especially by angry teen India, the children realize all they want is to reach their uncle's place. The revelation of what really happened doesn't quite square with a narrative told in three voices, but Choldenko's pacing is sure and her use of airport argot (white courtesy phones, a missing black box) adds an inventive element to this story of unlikely survival. Ages 10–up. (Feb.)
School Library Journal
Gr 5–7—Gennifer Choldenko blends fantasy and reality in her thought-provoking, moving, and often humorous novel (Dial, 2011). Finn, India, and Mouse Tompkins are already dealing with the loss of their father, and now their house is foreclosed and they must leave California and move to their uncle's home in Colorado while their mother stays behind. Things become really strange when their plane lands in Falling Bird, an alternate reality where nothing is as it seems, rather than in Colorado. Narrators Becca Batoe, Jessie Bernstein, and Tara Sands are a perfect match for the siblings, bringing each one to life as they literally race against the clock and deal with their own struggles in order to find where they belong. They are all exceptional, but the spotlight belongs to Bernstein as Finn. The boy is a chronic worrier who speaks little but always has a plan, and his grit and determination are captured in Bernstein's vocal portrait. Through the three siblings' alternate points of view, listeners are transported to the sometimes fantastic and sometimes frightening land of Falling Bird via Choldenko's lyrically descriptive text which works ideally in this format. Sure to keep listeners riveted throughout.—Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI
MARCH 2011 - AudioFile
Narration by three narrators makes sense for a story with a quickly shifting reality. Jessie Bernstein portrays 12-year-old Finn, who’s tense with worry about the foreclosure of his family’s home and his mother’s plan to send her children to their Colorado uncle. Becca Battoe depicts Finn’s 14-year-old sister, India, who’s sullen and resentful at being responsible for her young, eccentric sister, Mouse. Tara Sands's lilting high pitch convinces listeners of Mouse’s happy acceptance when an hour’s plane trip brings the siblings to Falling Bird, an unsettling place that appeals to each of their individual sensibilities—at first. Because all three narrators establish a strong sense of character, the tensions that divide the three heroes add a chilling quality to an action-packed puzzle. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
An odd juxtaposition of contemporary reality and surreal fantasy from Newbery Honoree Choldenko. Surly India, worrywart Finn and smartypants Mouse are shipped off to Colorado to live with their uncle after their family home is lost to foreclosure. But too soon after take-off, their plane lands in a strange town named Falling Bird, where they are greeted like long-lost heroes and whisked off to three separate homes, each fully loaded with their heart's desires. Each child is given a clock that is counting down and told that when the time is up, a decision must be made to leave or stay. But leave or stay where? Colorado? Oz? Or somewhere else entirely? As always, the author shines in her characterization of children and their idiosyncratic kidspeak. Each sibling takes a turn in the narration, giving readers front-row seats to their psyches. But the convoluted mystery of Falling Bird isn't revealed until the very last pages, and by then some young readers may have lost interest in trying to interpret a Kafka-esque world with too few clues and a confusing host of secondary characters. Fascinating, if not entirely successful.(Fantasy. 10-14)
