Birdie Bagshaw has never known her parents. Having grown up in a children’s home for mixed race children in 1950s Leeds, now she has come to live with her great-aunt in the Yorkshire Dales. From her arrival, Birdie is treated like an outsider by the local children.

When their bullying drives Birdie to hide in the nearby coal mine, she finds an unexpected rescuer in the form of Mr Duke, the last remaining pit pony in the village. As the weeks pass, Birdie forms a special bond with the spirited little pony. But his future is in danger, and Birdie comes up with a daring plan to save his life in return . . .

Birdie is a tender and sweet children’s middle-grade story that explores many hard-hitting issues related to identity, bullying, and racism.

The story is set in the UK in the 1950s and features a young girl called Birdie who has lived in a children’s home for mixed-raced youngsters all her life, never knowing her parents. That is until her Great Aunt expresses a desire for Birdie to live with her in the Yorkshire dales.

Birdie doesn’t want to go but plucks up the courage to leave those who have cared for her and her friends in the hope of a more stable life, what she gets is anything but, especially as her aunt didn’t realise until Birdie showed up on her doorstep that she is mixed-race.

From this bad start to the children at her new school mistreating her and to feeling like an outsider, Birdie is alone and scared until she meets a pit pony, and the two become close. However, the pony’s future is in jeopardy and Birdie is determined to save its life.

This is such a beautiful book that teaches children many lessons and also educates them about life in the 1950s. It is breath-taking at times and J.P. Rose is such a tremendous storyteller that you can’t help but be sucked into the plot and held captive. I read the book in just two sittings as I didn’t want to put it down once I’d begun.

Birdie is a glorious character who has so much strength for someone so young. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t get hurt or upset as she does often it is that she has the inner strength to keep on putting one foot in front of the other and to get up every day and face the world over and over again.

The book is an emotional rollercoaster and one that will have a lasting effect on its young audience.

J.P. Rose was born in Manchester but was raised in Yorkshire after her adoption. Growing up she suffered extreme racism, though she continued to be proud of her diverse and rich Jamaican, Nigerian and Anglo-Irish heritage. She trained as an actress but eventually moved into writing, and she is now the author of numerous novels for adults. She owns several horses, dogs and cats and lives in London with her family.