Staake’s wordless picture book explores friendship, wildlife, sacrifice, death, and hope. A young boy’s drab world of loneliness gets a splash of color when he meets a perky bluebird. A squad of bullies turns the day into a tragedy, with the bird lying lifeless on the ground. An uplifting bit of magic closes the story, and the boy is comforted as the bird is reunited with the clouds and sky. In a mix of full-page artwork and small scenes arranged in sequential panels, Staake works out an impressive range of emotion, from the serene whimsy of cloud gazing to the cruel pointlessness of death, in his distinctive circle-and-square-based artwork.