Flight of the Puffin

- Blurb -

The author of The Benefits of Being an Octopus delivers a stirring novel in which one small act of kindness ripples out to connect four kids in need of support. Libby comes from a long line of bullies. To cope, she leaves motivational postcards around town for others who might feel as belittled as she does. When she hears about a kid on the other side of the country who' s getting the bully treatment, she mails him a postcard saying- "You' re amazing. "That kid is Vincent. His plan to stop the bullying backfired in a big way, so he' s stopped going to school. But when he gets Libby' s note, he' s so moved by her gesture that he wants to help someone, too. He starts bringing food to T, who' s homeless and living on a sidewalk. T doesn' t identify as male or female, and ran away from home because their family wouldn' t accept them. As T and Vincent get to know each other, T helps build Vincent' s confidence, and inspires him to write to a kid he saw in the newspaper recently. That kid is Jack. He' s been petitioning to keep his small school open; it might lose funding if it doesn' t make some changes. One of them is to add a gender-neutral bathroom-making transgender students a hot-button issue at the school board meeting. Jack gets misquoted in a newspaper that Vincent reads, and Vincent sends him a letter explaining how we all need to listen better and let people be who they are. Vincent' s letter helps Jack start thinking more deeply, as does meeting Libby, who is astounded at how much change her small act of hopefulness has wrought. . . and will continue to ripple out.