A review by kristendom
Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary by Laura Stanfill

3.75

I had to mull on this one a bit before reviewing because I felt like there were a lot of unfinished threads to this story. I did love the sweetness of the story, as well as the parallels drawn between the songs of the canaries and the voices of the humans in the book. Although the author takes a moment to get there, the majority of the story is about Henri, a sweet boy who is raised in the shadow of his father Georges in the French village of Mireville, where Georges is known as the Sunbringer. Though he tries to find his niche, Henri is also fascinated by the women around him, always listening to their stories. All of this is also told during a time when women trained male canaries - or the cocks - to sing using serinettes - made by Henri's father - and entered them in competitions. Again, a lovely little story, but I would have loved it if a few more of the loose threads had been tied up a little better.