The Someday Birds

Sally J. Pla’s novel The Someday Birds is a middle grade story originally published in 2017 by HarperCollins Children’s Books. In 2018, The Someday Birds won the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award. The central storyline is informed by Pla’s activism supporting people with autism and her own experience as a neurodivergent person.

The novel is written from the perspective of the protagonist Charlie, a boy with autism, and set in various locations across the United States. His dad, Robert, is a war journalist in Afghanistan who becomes injured and is sent to a hospital in Virginia for special treatment, so Charlie, his family, and their new friend Ludmila must drive in a rickety RV from California to meet Robert there. Throughout the drive, Charlie finds solace in books about birds. When he realizes his road trip is the perfect time to find all the birds on the list he and his dad made, Charlie’s perspective on his adventure begins to change. Charlie’s cross-country experiences inspire the novel’s explorations of The Healing Power of Nature, the Journey Towards Personal Growth and Acceptance, and The Role of Family in Personal Development.