'Nightjar', written by Katy Balen and illustrated by Richard Johnson, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

Katya Balen’s freshly, excitingly, original and insightful full length middle grade novel ‘October, October’ won the Carnegie Medal in 2022. It was a story about parent-child relationships, growing up, and the natural world. 

 

What Barrington Stoke does so well, is to publish books primarily designed for less fluent readers but which are actually wonderful stories for anybody to read. They demonstrate how stories with depth of character and plot can be served-up in much shorter chapter books than the standard chapter book lengths. This story text is around 8,000 words long. With excellent illustrations by Richard Johnson communicating story alongside text. 

 

We met Noah in Katya Balen’s previous Barrington Stoke book, ‘Birdsong’, in which musical child Annie was the main character. Now, it’s twelve year old Noah’s turn to experience comfort and new understandings thanks to a wild bird. 

 

Noah is on the cusp between childhood and adulthood, about to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah marking a step in life towards more independence and responsibility. But Noah’s life is still dominated by his parents; hardworking, kind and imaginative Mum, and Dad who some years back left mother and son for a new life in the States with a new woman. Noah and Dad don’t understand each other, and that doesn’t matter much whilst Dad is out of Noah’s life. Noah can study and enjoy and draw his beloved wild birds in peace. But now Dad has come to visit. 

This story beautifully and convincingly develops the father and son relationship through their disagreement about the treatment of a wounded bird. Noah rescues a poorly nightjar, taking it home to nurse. Dad sees taking a bird from its natural environment as cruel. He once found a wounded bird, and killed it as the kindest thing to do. We sympathise with both points of view, but they are utterly opposed … until Noah and Dad discover that, actually, they do have sympathy with the other’s point of view. They find a new respect, and perhaps even liking, for each other. 

What might develop from the proposed trip to the US to walk woods and discover the wild birds there, Noah and Dad together? That’s left for us to imagine and hope, as the nightjar finally shows its true beauty in the dark of night, and flies.