Excerpt from A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The mayor said, "Get ready for summer!"

The racist president said, "Summer will kill the virus."

The governor said, "Be kind to each other and mask up."

The medical doctor who was older and frail-looking laughed at them all. He said, "It's a virus. It cannot be reasoned with."

The adults had it all wrong. They thought they could laugh, swipe right, and play away.

That we would all get it and some of us would be fine, and most of us would get sick, and hopefully, for those that could afford the medicine, the sick would heal.

The virus said, "50,000 dead. 135,000 sick."

The virus said, "110,000 dead. 1 million sick."

The virus said, "205,000 dead. 58 million sick."

The virus said, "500,000 dead in the United States. 102 million sick."

The medical doctor, who was old and frail, looked sad. He looked like someone who didn't want to play the "I told you so" game.

Excerpted from A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne. Copyright © 2025 by Mahogany L. Browne. Excerpted by permission of Crown Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.