A review by kristenremenar
Sparrow Girl by Sara Pennypacker

3.0

Quieter and heavier than the typical picture book. This book is based on the actual Sparrow War in 1958 in China, when Chairman Mao declared that all people were to make noise for three days to kill off the sparrows who were eating too much wheat. Of course, when the sparrows died, the locust population exploded and did even more damage. In "Sparrow Girl", Ming-Li rescues some sparrows and hides them in the barn, ensuring that there will be sparrows in the future. The art is appropriately dark, but didn't grab me. The whole book just made me feel sad - and I get that that's the point, but even the kind of hopeful ending didn't lift the mood.