Rare Birds


 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Dedication
 Contents
 My Waiting Room
 Next Destination
 Half the Battle
 Welcome to Sugarland
 The Blue Beast
 Gators
 An Un-Whale-come Stranger
 And Son
 A Bestseller
 This Is New
 The Florida Clinic
 The Special Doors
 The Good Ice
 Lou
 Days
 Shake Therapy
 The Snail Kite
 No Service
 Back at It
 Awake
 Hello, Waiting, My Old Friend
 Ten Bucks an Hour
 A Truce
 The Baby Blue Beast
 Time to Get Serious
 A Window
 Bird Facts
 Southern Hospitality
 The List
 Official
 Who’s Who
 The Map
 Islands
 Robb with Two b’s
 Job Security
 Rudy Style
 Long View
 A Wild Grouse Chase
 Gary and Loretta
 The Fossil
 Lost and Found
 The Room Again
 Peerless Pines
 Liberation Station
 Club Members Only
 Shipshape
 Well, That’s New
 I’ll Be
 Amazing Grays
 A Proper Burial
 Message
 The Eagle Has Landed
 Dom’s Water Safety
 First Trip
 To the Top
 Worst of the Worst
 Year of Our Fjord
 Movin’ Out (Graham’s Song)
 Friday
 Hole in Your Bucket
 Sugarland Moss
 Saturday
 Sneaking Around
 Let’s Go!
 Nurse’s Station
 The Beginning
 Lou’s World
 Bird Facts
 Uninvited Guests
 Wrong Way
 All Ashore
 On Our Own
 Together Again
 Owe You One
 Secret Compartment
 The Truth
 Tripod
 The “You Belong Here” Club
 The Call
 The Message
 Let’s Go!
 Pillow Fort
 See You Later
 A Chance
 Waiting
 News
 Still in the Woods
 Daydream
 Nightmare
 Found and Lost
 Morning
 Worldview
 A Natural
 Two Hundred Fifty Words
 Bird Mail
 Victory Milkshake
 Hello. Goodbye.
 Acknowledgments
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Table of Contents
 My Waiting Room
 
 
 
 
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 UNION SQUARE KIDS and the distinctive Union Square Kidslogo are trademarks of Union Square & Co., LLC.
 Union Square & Co., LLC, is a subsidiary of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
 Text © 2023 Alloy Entertainment, LLCCover illustration © 2023 Kimberly Glyder
 Produced by Alloy Entertainment
 
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
 ISBN 978-1-4549-4504-8ISBN 978-1-4549-4506-2 (e-book)
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Miller, Jeff R., author.
 Title: Rare birds / Jeff Miller.
 Description: [New York] : Union Square Kids, [2023] | Audience: Ages 8-12. | Audience: Grades 4-6. | Summary: While his mother waits for a life-saving heart transplant, eleven-year-old Graham Dodds sets out to find an endangered Snail Kite in the Florida Everglades.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022002466 | ISBN 9781454945048 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781454945062 (e-book)
 Subjects: CYAC: Birds--Fiction. | Endangered species--Fiction. | Heart--Transplantation--Fiction. | Families--Fiction. | Everglades (Fla.)--Fiction. | Florida--Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Adolescence & Coming of Age | JUVENILE FICTION / 
 
 To my mother.
 And to the person who gave us the gift of life.
 We are forever grateful.
 
 
 
 
 
 Contents
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Dedication
 My Waiting Room
 Next Destination
 Half the Battle
 Welcome to Sugarland
 The Blue Beast
 Gators
 An Un-Whale-come Stranger
 And Son
 A Bestseller
 This Is New
 The Florida Clinic
 The Special Doors
 The Good Ice
 Lou
 Days
 Shake Therapy
 The Snail Kite
 No Service
 Back at It
 Awake
 Hello, Waiting, My Old Friend
 Ten Bucks an Hour
 A Truce
 The Baby Blue Beast
 Time to Get Serious
 A Window
 Bird Facts
 Southern Hospitality
 The List
 Official
 Who’s Who
 The Map
 Islands
 Robb with Two b’s
 Job Security
 Rudy Style
 Long View
 A Wild Grouse Chase
 Gary and Loretta
 The Fossil
 Lost and Found
 The Room Again
 Peerless Pines
 Liberation Station
 Club Members Only
 Shipshape
 Well, That’s New
 I’ll Be
 Amazing Grays
 A Proper Burial
 Message
 The Eagle Has Landed
 Dom’s Water Safety
 First Trip
 To the Top
 Worst of the Worst
 Year of Our Fjord
 Movin’ Out (Graham’s Song)
 Friday
 Hole in Your Bucket
 Sugarland Moss
 Saturday
 Sneaking Around
 Let’s Go!
 Nurse’s Station
 The