Nightbird (Hoffman)

Nightbird 
Alice Hoffman, 2015
Random House Children's Books
208 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385389587


Summary
In her first novel for middle-grade readers, bestselling author Alice Hoffman tells a bewitching story of love and friendship that is truly magical.
 
Twig lives in Sidwell, where people whisper that fairy tales are real. After all, her town is rumored to hide a monster. And two hundred years ago, a witch placed a curse on Twig’s family that was meant to last forever.

But this summer, everything will change when the red moon rises. It’s time to break the spell. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—March 16, 1952
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Raised—on Long Island, New York
• Education—B.A., Adelphi University; M.A., Stanford University
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts


Background
Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston.

Hoffman’s first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She credits her mentor, professor and writer Albert J. Guerard, and his wife, writer Maclin Bocock Guerard, for helping her to publish her first short story in the magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff then contacted her to ask if she had a novel, at which point she quickly began to write what was to become Property Of, a section of which was published in Mr. Solotaroff’s magazine, American Review.

Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published more than twenty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.

Adult Works
Her novel, At Risk (1988), which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools.

Practical Magic (1995) was made into a 1998 Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.

Her novel, Here on Earth (1997), an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights.

Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls (1999), a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.

Millennial novels include New York Times bestsellers The River King (2000), Blue Diary (2001), The Probable Future (2003) and The Ice Queen (2005). Blackbird House (2004) is a book of stories centering around an old farm on Cape Cod.

Then came The Third Angel (2008) and The Story Sisters (2009)—both bestsellers—and The Red Garden (2011), a collection of linked fictions about a small town in Massachusetts where a garden holds the secrets of many lives.

More recently, Hoffman published The Dovekeepers (2011) and The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014) to solid acclaim. Both spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Teen and preteen
Hoffman’s earliest books for young readers are Aquamarine (2001) and Indigo (2002). Green Angel (2003), a post-apocalyptic fairy tale about loss and love, was published by Scholastic, and The Foretelling (2005), about an Amazon girl in the Bronze Age, was published by Little Brown.

Her teen novel Incantation (2006) is a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year. Hoffman also published Green Witch (2010), is a sequel to her popular post-apocalyptic 2003 fairy tale, Green Angel.

Most recently, Hoffman published Nightbird (2015), the story of an age-long family curse and a boy with wings.

Recognition
Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine.

She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay Independence Day, the 1983 film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest.

Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a 2006 film starring Emma Roberts.

Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.

Toni Morrison called The Dovekeepers "a major contribution to twenty-first century literature" for the past five years. The story of the survivors of Masada is considered by many to be Hoffman’s masterpiece. The New York Times bestselling novel is slated for 2015 miniseries, produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, starring Cote de Pablo of NCIS fame.

Reviewing The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014) for The New York Times Book Review, Katherine Weber referred to it as "A lavish tale about strange yet sympathetic people, haunted by the past and living in bizarre circumstances… Imaginative." (Bio adapted from the author's website. Retrieved 4/13/2015.)

Book Reviews
Hoffman has a beautiful way of throwing open a door on possibility so that the reader begins to see magic everywhere…Sidwell seems gentler than the settings of Hoffman's works for adults, but still buzzes with charm and mystery…The world of Sidwell is one of quiet sorcery. Power can be found not just in the crackle of summer lightning but in ritualistic and common chores—the planting of a garden, the making of a proper pie crust. Hoffman reminds us that there are secrets everywhere, and in these moments of unexpected discovery, Nightbird soars.
Leigh Bardugo - New York Times Book Review


Once again, Hoffman works her magic to transport readers to a realm where enchantment intermingles with everyday realities.... The book’s evocative setting and distinctive characters will immediately hook readers, and the history of Twig’s family, uncovered bit by bit, will keep them engaged (Ages 10–up).
Publishers Weekly


[A] recipe for a page-turning plot. The conclusion may be too cheerful for sophisticated readers, and... [a]t times, the narrative voice is that of a gifted writer who knows how to work magic with language rather than the voice of an awkward tween. It is, nevertheless, a delight...and satisfying (Ages 11-15).  —Donna L. Phillips;
VOYA


A sweet, if somewhat uneven middle grade tale.... Hoffman juggles multiple themes: an environmental thread...; a broken family thread...; a friendship tale...; along with bits of romance, curses, and magic.... Unfortunately, the [overly pat] climax... undercuts an otherwise sophisticated narrative. (Gr 4–6). —Elisabeth Gattullo Marrocolla, Darien Library, CT
School Library Journal


There's a monster in Sidwell, Massachusetts, that can only be seen at night or, as Twig reveals, if passersby are near her house. It's her older brother, James, born with wings just like every male in the Fowler line for the last 200 years.... The mix of romance and magic is irresistible and the tension, compelling.... Enchanting (Ages 9-12).
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also use LitLovers generic Teen Discussion Questions to help get a discussion started for Nightbird:

1. Overall, how did you feel reading this book? Did the book hold your interest? Did it make you angry, sad, laugh?

2. What do you think of the main characters? Do you admire or disapprove of them? What are they like? Think about fairness, honesty, respectfulness, loyalty, bravery, kindness, intelligence, strength or weakness.

3. Can you find a sentence or paragraph that describes a main character really well—or in which a  character says or does something that strikes you?

4. What motivates the main characters—makes them do what they do? Do you think their actions are right or wrong, fair or unfair, or what?

5. Who in the book would you most like to meet? What would you say or ask?

6. If you could be a character in the book—or a totally new character—who would you like to be? Would you make changes? What or how?

7. Does a character remind you of someone in your family, or a friend? Have you ever felt the same way as one of the characters?

8. What is the central problem, or conflict, in the story? What is the root cause of the conflict?

9. What is the defining moment in the story—the climax? How did you feel when it happened? Were your frightened? Sad? Relieved? Angry?

10. Has something like this happened to you? How do you think you would react if something like it ever did happen?

11. Do you like the way the story ends? If so, why. If not, what would you change?

12. Did you expect the ending—or were you surprised?

13. Do the characters learn anything by the end of the story? Do they grow or develop a new outlook on life. Are they smarter or wiser?

14. What do you think we can learn from this book? What insights can we gain. What can we take away to make us wiser?

15. Were you sad to see the story end, to say goodbye to the characters? Or were you ready for it to end?

16.. Overall, how do you like the book? Would you tell another friend to read it?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online of off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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