Columbina is a Clark’s Nutcracker (a type of bird), born into a family that survives by extracting seeds from pine cones and hiding them in caches to be retrieved later. Her mother tells her she has the “mark of the Valiant Ones” on her, but she is also told that her only appropriate path in life is to help the family find seeds and eventually start a family of her own.
Instilled with an unusual sense of curiosity and empathy, however, Columbina chafes at these limitations and soon makes unprecedented friendships with other creatures, including a loud Belted Kingfisher named Halcyon and even a family of bears. She’s interested in the world around her—and beyond—much to the dismay and disapproval of her father. But when the local environment is threatened by a smothering heat wave, even as the menacing Tall Ones (humans) draw ever closer, Columbina throws off tradition and risks everything to save her home—and every creature living in it, no matter what they are.
UPLIFT is written in a lovely but unadorned style. Author Jessica Mann introduces the wild setting and the anthropomorphized animals that live in it using gentle but delightfully rich language: “Columbina gazed down in wonder at the deer and occasional moose that wandered through the grove, watching them paw at the trunks or dig through the snow to uncover stray blades of last summer’s dead grasses.” Mann has a deft way of defining the animals using their innate characteristics while maintaining a sense of dimensionality. Halcyon, for example, is a Kingfisher through and through, loud and obsessed with fish. But when a bedraggled dragonfly named Junius falls into the water and faces certain death, Halcyon saves the insect and later takes pride when Junius starts his own family. Columbina is sketched skillfully, a flawed young bird whose intelligence sometimes morphs into harmful pride.
Mann investigates some complex themes, including every creature’s right to existence pitted against the natural life cycle of the wild. Junius may deserve the chance to live and start a family, but insects are also eaten by birds. The Tall Ones may be terrifying and destructive, but Columbina also sees goodness in them, as well as the possibility of a better future. This is a novel that can appeal to adults seeking a rousing story of adventure, but it also appeals to younger readers—who will love the depictions of birds, bears, and insects as thoughtful and emotionally deep characters.
Jessica Mann’s UPLIFT boasts a well-crafted universe and appealing characters that lift this tale of untouched wilderness and the creatures that live there to entertaining heights.
~ Jeff Somers for IndieReader