With Just One Wing by Brenda Woods

With Just One Wing

Brenda Woods

Penguin Young Readers Group · Paperback · May 27, 2025

Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods’s poignant, heartfelt story of an adopted boy and the bird he rescues Everyone expects Coop to be musical like his beloved parents, but he’s not.

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Who it’s for
A boy’s bond with an injured bird opens tender questions about adoption, love, and letting go.
Themes
Adoption and belonging, Caring for animals, Difficult choices and letting go
Genres
Adoption Stories, Bird Stories, Self-Esteem & Resilience

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About this book

Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods’s poignant, heartfelt story of an adopted boy and the bird he rescues Everyone expects Coop to be musical like his beloved parents, but he’s not. That’s one of the few things he finds awkward about being adopted—well, that and the fact that he sometimes wonders why his birth mother didn’t love him enough to keep him.

Continue reading

This summer, he’s stuck at home with a broken arm after falling out of a tree trying to get a closer peek at a mockingbird nest. After the eggs in the nest hatch and the fledglings fly away, he and his friend Zandi notice that one of them stays behind. Taking a closer look, they realize the bird only has one wing. Since it won’t survive in the wild, they adopt it and name it Hop, and then learn everything they can about birds so they can care for Hop properly. Unfortunately, when a hawk injures Hop, the vet says it’s illegal to keep mockingbirds as pets. Faced with a difficult decision about surrendering his beloved little bird to a bird sanctuary, Coop starts thinking about his birth mother’s motivation in a new light.

Care and Belonging

A boy’s bond with an injured bird opens tender questions about adoption, love, and letting go.

Come here for

  • A moving connection between a boy and a bird
  • Thoughtful questions about family and belonging

Expect

  • Warm feeling with a difficult choice
  • A tender story of care and letting go

Where it sits

Bird Stories99%
Adoption Stories85%
Self-Esteem & Resilience21%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Bird Stories
  • US: African American Stories
  • Adoption Stories
Authors
Brenda Woods
Publisher
Penguin Young Readers Group
Published
May 27, 2025
Format
Paperback
Theme
Adoption and belonging · Caring for animals · Difficult choices and letting go
Reading lane
Bird Stories