the girl's mom died, her father became weird. he eats insect and imagines he can fly. one day, the two hold a competition that the man flies in the sky. the girl helps her father to make wings. although the girl's aunt thought the girl's father is unnormal, the girl and her father still join the competition. ( )

This book was about a little girl called Lizzie who's dad is joining the Human Birdman Competition. The competition was 'who can be a bird and use a technique to fly over the Tyne'. Obviously Lizzie doesn't understand, but when she and her dad make a bird's nest, two crests, too beaks, two pairs of wings and signs up on Mr Poop's document, she understands that her dad is just that little bit crazy.

Lizzie's auntie, Doreen, thinks that this is all utter nonsense (which it is) and calls in Lizzie's head teacher, Mr Mint, to take Lizzie away from her dad's craziness. But Lizzie doesn't want to, and in the end, she and her clever dad (and even Mr Mint) all entered the competition...

...And failed.

"But that doesn't matter, Dad," Lizzie would keep saying, "We had fun making the beaks and crests and wings - and it's not over. We can do that again. So it's not bad that we failed. It would be better if we won, but we didn't, and that's fine."

This book was more of a strange one, and David Almond must have had a very odd imagination to come up with a man who'd like to enter a bird competition. But some people do have odd ideas, and I'm not saying that David's book wasn't good and that David was weird. ( )

Impressive. Subtle & beautifully crafted fable of loss and rebirth, a counterpoint response to the story of Daedalus & Icarus. The casual reader will enjoy it as a funny story, with charming illustrations - but upon re-reading will appreciate language and metaphor and themes. I don't want to spoil it for you so I won't say more - it's short, so you can find the time to make it yourself.

I will say that if you appreciate the juveniles by [a:James Thurber|16839|James Thurber|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1183238729p2/16839.jpg], like[b:The 13 Clocks|143126|The 13 Clocks|James Thurber|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1293669643s/143126.jpg|2099329] and [b:Many Moons|73002|Many Moons|James Thurber|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223647821s/73002.jpg|19210930], you'll also enjoy this. I think I'll have to re-read Almond's [b:Skellig|24271|Skellig (Skellig, #1)|David Almond|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320460285s/24271.jpg|960] now that I have a better sense of how to read what he writes. ( )

This amusing story can be interpreted in different ways: live your life to the fullest, find the joy in life, love holds everyone together even in the dark times. Lizzie cares for her father in the wake of her mother's death (only briefly mentioned late in the book) and lovingly indulges him when he becomes obsessed with the Great Human Bird Competition. ( )

Narrated by Sarah Coombs. It’s just Lizzie and Dad after Mum’s passing. Lizzie is very protective of her father especially given his current odd behavior: he is attempting to fly and act like a bird. Lizzie sees how important this is to him and she joins him in the human bird competition over the protests of her Auntie Doreen. Coombs reads energetically in a lilting cockney accent, expressing Lizzie's warmth and affection for her father. This story is a bit of an odd duck, though. ( )