Grandmother's Pigeon

A grandmother’s sudden departure leaves her family with an even more puzzling, and wondrous, surprise in this enchanting story from the National Book Award–winning author—at last back in print.

Grandmother was a mysterious woman. She could heal with a touch (or with a cup of very bitter tea) or scare off a vicious dog with a look. But when she hitches a ride to Greenland on a passing porpoise, her family is still surprised—and then concerned.

The mystery deepens when, among Grandmother’s collection of birds’ nests, the family discovers a clutch of eggs hatching. Out pop three passenger pigeons—birds of a species long extinct, supposedly.

Through the words of a curious grandchild, and Jim LaMarche’s evocative artwork, Grandmother’s legacy unfolds in these pages in all its peculiarity and charm. Mixing whimsy and gravity with a little science and history, the tale of the family’s loss, and marvelous find, summons a world as intriguing as it is perfectly clear—a world animated by Louise Erdrich’s storytelling magic, inviting readers young and old to follow Grandmother, and to wonder.