Nine-year-old Millie’s mum has cancer and treatments aren’t working. When Millie has her 10th birthday party, she sees her mum through her friends’ eyes and realises how seriously ill she is.

As Mum returns to hospital, life as Millie knows it starts to unravel and as her dad deals with his own worry and grief, Millie feels very alone.

But something strange happens. She notices the crows living in her back garden, and one evening after a hospital visit, they eat her leftover hamburger. The next day it appears the crows have left her a gift in return. While Milly navigates the unthinkable, the birds remain her only solace and help her patch up her heart and find her way back to her dad.

The first half of this book is hard going. Caroline Stills has done a wonderful job describing grief and sorrow, but as a mother I found it difficult to read and can imagine some children would find it distressing. But illness and untimely death are perhaps not addressed enough in kids’ books and there is a lot of beauty and hope here too. The natural world bringing solace and dependability in a time of upheaval and the stages of grief are portrayed here simply and honestly. The language is clear and uncomplicated.

A Gift From the Birds could be a good book to read with your child to discuss themes of death, grief and loss, as well as the natural world.

Caroline Stills is the author of a number of acclaimed picture books for children. She won the 2024 Text Prize for A Gift from the Birds, her first novel for middle grade readers.

Caroline lives in the Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne, with her family.

Read more about her work.