James deals with depression and anxiety, but reading Walt Whitman and hugging trees usually helps him feel better. Talking to Dr. Bird, a pigeon who moonlights as a therapist and largely lives in his head also helps him deal, especially after his parents kick his older sister, Jorie, out of the house for being expelled from school. Jorie has fought with their mother and father (known as the Banshee and the Brute, respectively) pretty regularly, but kicking her out was unexpected, and James is determined to find a way for her to come back. In the midst of all of this, Beth, a girl James likes, starts talking to him, mostly to see if he can find a piece Jorie was working on for the school's literary magazine, and they strike up a friendship. But as James digs further into the hows and whys of Jorie's expulsion, he finds that his problems are just as big as Jorie's, and that their methods of coping with their difficult family life may be different, but can lead to the same results.
I feel that in order to fully understand James and his voice, it might be good to be familiar with Walt Whitman's poetry; at the very least, you should know what a yawp is. Despite not being familiar with any of that, I still enjoyed the story. James, even in the midst of depression, tells his story with an almost manic quality, making parts of the story funnier than they probably should be (though his friend Derek's love life is pretty hilarious). His determination to always find something to celebrate is wonderful, and even though he hits a pretty low point, he's able to come back from it and find the help and closure he needs to move on and make his life better. A good read for anyone who likes quirky characters.
(Read as part of YALSA's Hub Challenge.)
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