Eileen Spinelli’s “Birdie” is a novel-in-verse on loss. When twelve-year-old Birdie Briggs considers her father a fireman, who died in the line of duty. She finds comfort in birds. Birdie still has her mom Maymee, and her friends Nina and Martin. Despite the difficulties of life without her father. With relationships shifting, Birdie’s world changes, and she struggles with both the beauty that may come from loss and the pain of it.