Book Reviews – Birdgirl

Birdgirl
by Mya-Rose Craig

What a divine book this is. Mya-Rose was born into a bird-watching family and from a very young age was out with her parents twitching. Here’s the facts: she is a 20-year-old British/Bangladeshi birder, environmentalist and diversity activist. At the age of 14, she founded Black2Nature to engage minority ethnic teens with nature and, at 17, she became the youngest Briton to receive an honorary doctorate for her pioneering work. In this book, Mya-Rose writes beautifully about her life as a birder, and about her mother’s mental health issues. The way they kept their family together and functioning was to plan and take birding trips and Mya-Rose takes us with her as they travel to all the continents in search of rare and prized birds. While travelling, she learnt that so many birds are becoming endangered due to climate change and loss of habitat. This was the beginning of her activist journey, together with the realisation there were very few people of colour and youth involved in birding. The book is currently in a hard-back format and the start of each chapter has a beautifully coloured drawing of a bird and the description of that bird. I am not a bird watcher, but this book is inspiring me to learn more and really take the time to look at our beautiful birdlife. Highly recommend this.