A pedigree scheme worth every penny for helping children get to grips with words, sounds and spelling patterns, and to inspire a love of reading. . . . a high quality, powerful storytelling scheme written by one of the best." Teach Primary

Songbirds is based on a true story. Chronicling several migrant women that go missing, with little interest in finding them, making International news. Songbirds by Christy Lefteri is a heartbreaking tale exploring the struggles domestic workers have to go through just to provide their families with the basic necessities of life. Reading this book has clearly shown me the stark divide between people who are overflowing with privilege without even being aware of it, just like how a fish doesn't know it's submerged in overflowing ocean water, and people who have to sacrifice their entire youth just to provide their families with things that are default aspects of many people's lives that require little to no sacrifices. Another contrast we see highlighted in this book is the one between disgusting cruelty and selfless kindness, two attitudes human beings are equally capable of, but lean on one more than the other due to their own upbringing.

Petra and Yiannis must form an uneasy coalition, if they’re to get to the bottom of Nisha’s disappearance. McCreesh, Louise (May 19, 2020). "Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gets a mixed response from critics". Digital Spy . Retrieved May 20, 2020. Jen Juneau. "The Hunger Games Prequel Casts Billy the Kid's Tom Blyth as a Young President Snow". Peoplemag . Retrieved May 24, 2022. These books revise the long vowel sounds and spelling patterns taught in Stage 4, and all the short vowels and consonants taught in previous stages. Book 6 also features oo as in food. As a fan of The Beekeeper of Aleppo, I was anxious to see what Lefteri would write next. Songbirds explores the disappearance of a Sri Lankan maid/nanny from her employer’s home on the island of Cyprus. Nisha had worked for Petra for nine years and was more of a mother to Aliki than Petra. But the police just blow off her disappearance, assuming she had left for better employment possibilities. SoPetra undertakes to investigate on her own. Yiannis is Petra’s upstairs tenant and is in love with Nisha. It took me a while to warm to Yiannis as he is a poacher of songbirds.

Living on the island of Cyprus, Nisha is far from her native Sri Lanka. Though she longs to return home, she knows that working as a "maid" for a wealthy widow is the only way to earn enough to support her daughter, left behind to be raised by relatives. Mayfair Lipp - She is the daughter of District 12's mayor. Jealous of Lucy Gray and her relationship with Billy Taupe, she arranges for Lucy to be reaped; Lucy in turn humiliates her by putting a snake down her dress. Mayfair eventually becomes a spy for the Capitol in its efforts to suppress future rebellions and is murdered by Coriolanus and the rebels. When the police refuse to pursue the case, Petra takes on the investigation herself, a path that leads her to Nisha's friends- other workers in the neighbourhood-and to the dealers side of a migrant's life, where impossible choices leave them vulnerable, captive, and worse. a sincere attempt to raise awareness of migrant workers and their experiences ...in this case specifically Cyprus which continues to be a machismo cultureI am still thinking about Nisha and her journey, the way she affected those around her. She's a character we can all learn from; a fighter, a lover, a helper, a friend. Nisha's lover, Yiannis, had also been in economic trouble when an acquaintance involved him in illegally poaching songbirds as they fly between Europe and Africa. But Yiannis finds that the organization does not allow anyone to leave. Inspired by the real-life disappearance of domestic workers in Cyprus, Christy Lefteri has crafted a poignant, deeply empathetic narrative of the human stories behind the headlines. With infinite tenderness and skill, SONGBIRDS offers a triumphant story of the fight for truth and justice, and of women reclaiming their lost voices."