NOMINATED FOR THE KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL 2021
What do you do when it feels impossible to live the life that is expected of you? What do you do when you long for something that you can hardly name?
Berta is a twelve-year-old girl growing up on a farm in a small village in northern Sweden in the early twentieth century. She loves drawing and painting more than anything else, and secretly dreams of being an artist. But her mother is sick and Berta is needed on the farm. She knows that she needs art, that she has to express herself. But how can she make her dreams a reality?
Based on the paintings, letters and diaries of the Swedish artist Berta Hansson (1910–1994), The Bird Within Me is an exquisitely told story of family and obligation and following your dreams, which will appeal to all ages.