On a Wing and a Tear

Smith, Cynthia Leitich. On a Wing and a Tear
September 17, 2024 by Heartdrum

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Ray Halfmoon, who is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, lives with his grandpa Charlie in the Albany Park of Chicago. For the last year, they've had Mel Roberts and her mom, Susan, who are both Muscogee citizens, sharing their bungalow while Susan teachers at the university. Unbeknownst to Ray, the fabled Great Grandfather Bat, of traditional folklore, is recuperating from a wing injury in the yard. Ray loves to draw, and is very interested in Cub's baseball. Mel is glad to be living in Chicago, and gives an excellent presentation at school about the Trail of Tears. As spring break nears, two unusual things occur. Grandpa Charlie reconnects with an old girlfriend, who is a friend of Susan's, and Grandpa Bat approaches Ray and talks to him! He needs to travel to a rematch of an animal versus bird baseball game, and would like his old friend Charlie to help him get there. Gray Squirrel would like to go as well, and the area where the game is most likely being held isn't too far from where Georgia, the gradfather's old flame, lives. Since it's almost spring break, Ray is willing to miss going to the first Cub's game to take Grandpa Bat to the game. Of course, the group runs into trouble right away when Midas Buttinsky, who's trying to have a social media presence, hears the talking bat and steals him. The Halfmoons and Mel follow Midas to Iowa City, and Gray Squirrel manages to rescue his friend. Of course, any road trip has problems; a policeman is suspicious of the group when they are in a park late at night, the truck breaks down, and when Charlie meets Georgia, a dog gets loose in the restaurant. Midas manages to sneak a GPS unit into the cardboard box that Bat travels in, but this causes him to go out of his way when a relative borrows Charlie's truck to go to a bridal fitting in Texas. With Midas and his sister hot on their trail and eager to use Grandpa Bat for their own evil purposes, will Ray and his group manage to get to the site of the game in time? 

Strengths: I loved Leitich Smith's note at the end of the book explaining how the different characters in the book appear in her other books; cousin Rain is from Rain is Not My Indian Name! There are a lot of historical sites visited in the group's travels, and there is a fair amount of historical information about the Trail of Tears. The family connections and cultural practices support the story of the ball game, and make it seem a little more likely that Ray has a bat and a squirrel talk to him. The budding romance is sweet. Road trip books are always fun, and it's always more interesting to travel with grandparents, as in Cooney's Hit the Road, McVoy's Drive Me Crazy, Stone's Clean Getaway, Cavanaugh's When I Hit the Road, Acampora's How to Avoid Extinction, or the with uncles in Bradley's The Road to Wherever .
Weaknesses: Talking animals are a one of my least favorite middle grade tropes. I love Grandpa Charlie, but I don't think it was strictly necessary to kill off both of Ray's parents in a tornado when he was a baby. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like animal adventures where the animals talk to humans and interact with them, and I can see this being a popular choice with fans of Pennypacker's Pax, Parry's A Wolf Called Wander, Carter's Coo, or Rimington's The Elephant's Girl. There are not very many fantasy books with Native American cultural connections, so this was good to see.