RECOMMENDED READING

BY DEENA GOLDSTEIN

“Dad, I found you the best jacket. You’re gonna love it!” (For the record, you must know that “the best” was a term I used for many things, so naturally, my father was already fairly skeptical.)

Out of a shopping bag I lofted a black, racing style jacket, with white stripes down each sleeve. I waited for approval. Dad inspected the jacket from side to side, top to bottom, and checked the number of pockets. The heavy silence while he performed his inspection was deafening.

He put the jacket on, ambled unstably to the mirror, and declared, “We have a winner!” Fireworks of joy went off in my head.

A few days later, Dad asked, “Deena, where did you get that black jacket?”

“Ross (Dress for Less).”

The inquisition continued. “Deena, what department did the jacket come from?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Deena, this is a woman’s jacket and the zipper is on the wrong side. Where did it come from?”

“Well, it came from women’s, but I figured it would be OK. Who looks at zippers? It fits.”

“Deena,”—he always invoked my name in advance of a joke or lesson—“it matters to me. I’m not wearing a women’s jacket. What section did it come from in the women’s department?”

“Well, it kinda came from the girl’s section.” And there it was: the black jacket elephant in the room.

“Jesus Christ, Deena! Do me a favor and stop shopping for me! The sleeves are up to my wrists and the girl’s section . . . really? Now I’m wearing little girls’ clothes?”

He did have a point, I thought, but if he didn’t want the jacket, I’d keep it for myself.

A few weeks later, I breezed into my parent’s family room.

Dad asked, “Deena, is that my jacket you’re wearing?”

“Well, yeah. It was only $10 dollars, and I kinda liked it, so I kept it.”

With a smile, he said, “That’s nice. So now we wear the same size clothes. I feel much better!”

In the world of Little Bird, three siblings experience the same father differently. Navigating stringent rules, cantankerous family dinners, unfiltered commentaries, and lots of love, OK, Little Bird takes the reader on a bouncy ride from laughter to tears.

Everything is funny till a seemingly invincible father succumbs to a terminal illness amidst the Covid19 pandemic. Little Bird sets out to make things ok for her father one last time. Through a lifetime of wry banter, voicemails, letters and bad gifts, fly with Little Bird as she learns that even in the worst of times, the gem of laughter is the best coping tool of all.