Book Description

"The Story of Scraggles" by George Wharton James is a story about a little bird that would have died on its own if not taken by the author. Their beautiful relationship is narrated majorly from the bird's point of view. Overall, it is in parts funny, sad, and a beautiful story. Excerpt: "I was only a little baby song-sparrow, and from the moment I came out of my shell, everybody knew there was something the matter with me. I don't know what it could have been, for my brother and sister were well and strong. Perhaps I was out of the first egg that was laid, and a severe spell of cold had come and partially frozen me; or a storm had shaken the bough in which our nest was so that I was partly "addled." Anyhow, no matter what caused it, there was no denying the fact that when I was born I was an ailing little bird, and this made both my father and mother very cross with me. I couldn't help being so weak, and they might have been kinder to me; but when the other eggs were hatched out and my brother and sister were born, nobody seemed to care for me anymore."