A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe

Longlist, National Book Awards 2025 for Young People's Literature

ISBN 9780593486474
Crown Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House
Mahogany L. Browne

Mahogany L. Browne, a Kennedy Center Next 50 fellow and Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Awardee, is a writer, playwright, organizer, and educator. Browne received fellowships from ALL ARTS, Art for Justice, AIR Serenbe, Baldwin For The Arts, Carolyn Moore Writing Residency, Cave Canem, the Hawthornden Foundation, Poets House, the Mellon Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Wesleyan University, and Ucross Foundation. More about this author >

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In New York City, teens, their families, and their communities feel the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the fear and loss, these teens and the adults around them persevere with love and hope while living in difficult circumstances:

  • Malachi writes an Armageddon short story inspired by his pandemic reality.
  • Tariq helps their ailing grandmother survive during quarantine.
  • Zamira struggles with depression and loneliness after losing her parents.
  • Mohamed tries to help keep his community spirit alive.
  • A social worker reflects on the ways the foster system fails their children.

From award-winning author Mahogany L. Browne comes a poignant collection of interconnected prose, poems, and lists about the humanity and resilience of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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