Cory Leonardo. The Simple Art of Flying. Aladdin, 2019.

The Simple Art of Flying is a beautiful, intelligent book. I have a friend who has an African Grey Parrot. They are known for their intelligence and even for their personalities. He told me he thought of writing a book about his parrot. I warned him that it would be hard to outdo Alex and Me. Well, The Simple Art of Flying may have outdone Alex and Me.

There are some conditions that readers have to accept to make that judgment. Unlike Alex and Me, The Simple Art of Flying is fiction. There are three narrators: twelve-year-old Francis “Fritz” Feldman, an aspiring doctor and pet store worker and paperboy; retired widow Mrs. Bertie Plopky; and Alastair, an African Grey who cannot fly because of a wing injury that did not heal properly. About half the story is told from Alastair’s perspective.

To summarize plot parts hardly does the book justice. Fritz “volunteers” at a local pet store. He is too young to work officially but Peter, the store’s owner, gives him five dollars a day for the usual three days after school he works there. Fritz feeds the animals and takes care of the sick and injured animals in the back room or “infirmary” of the pet shop.

Alastair ends up in the infirmary. He does not trust people. He has a vision of living in a palm tree with blue skies. What kind of life is an indoor cage in a temperate climate? Once, when Peter is handling Alastair, Alastair bites him and Peter throws him against the wall. Fritz takes care of him in the infirmary, but Alastair hates it even more.

Now Alastair is separated from his sister, Aggie. Aggie is calmer, less aggressive, and seems to accept her lot as a pet for someone. Alastair, though, convinces her that they should try to escape and find that palm forest where they can live happily ever after. Alastair feels responsible not only for his sister but for all the small animals in the pet shop. He especially keeps an eye out for the guinea pigs and rabbits.

As is inevitable, both parrots get sold. Fritz himself saves up enough money to buy Aggie. Bertie buys Alastair. While Bertie does treat Alastair well, he still has plans to escape. Bertie also owns a cat. The cat constantly threatens Alastair, but Alastair has ways of tormenting the cat back. African Greys are probably the best mimics or talkers among wild animals. Alastair will learn a few words, but he can also meow just like the cat.

Aggie trusts Alastair, but the reader can well imagine that a flightless parrot is probably not going to do very well in the civilized world.

That’s the basis of the plot, but its story is delightful. It is YA literature, but it is written with adults in mind. Already aspiring to go into medicine, Fritz makes flash cards with medical terms on them. Instead of everyday expletives, his all have medical terms like jiminy rickets or shiver me blisters. He once gets a poor mark on an essay he wrote about his wart. The teacher said she thought she was reading a romance until she realized it was about a wart. “But I like my wart!” he tells her.

Alastair eats paper, as some parrots do. He especially like Norton Anthologies because the words are so beautiful. Adults will get a kick out of Alastair’s poems, mostly adaptations or parodies of other poems such as “On First Biting into Norton’s Anthology,” “To My Dear and Loving Sister,” “Jabberplopky,” to name a few.

All three narrators have experienced losses. Fritz’s parents are divorced and his grandfather had recently died. Bertie has been widowed for a number of years but still writes letters to Everett, her late husband. Her son lives far south in Florida and does not seem to respect her independence. Of course, Alastair becomes separated from his sister.

In some ways it seems that many YA titles these days are problem novels. Sadly, many of them come across as propaganda or simply bitter stories. Yes, the problems our three narrators have are not trivial. The question becomes, how do we deal with such problems? That is where The Simple Art of Flying shines. There is hope. Cherries are delicious, but what do we do about the pits?

To say much more would give too much away. Read this story and be delighted. Gordon Korman is probably our favorite contemporary YA writer, but he mostly writes to entertain. The Simple Art of Flying will entertain you, but it will also do so much more. How do we live out our dreams? What if things do not happen the way we think they should? The stoic says, “Life is hard. Be tough.” The epicure says, “Don’t worry. Be merry.” But Shakespeare, among others, warns us that both views have their limits. Brutus and Marc Antony both end up tragically. The Simple Art of Flying shows us a better way.