I didn't love this. The story was bland. Definitely not for me.

I requested this book as I am always looking for books to use during our China/Asia theme, especially those that are based on culture or folklore. While this may be based on a folk story, it is not apparent.
The illustrations are lovely and the book addresses unkindness that students can show a newcomer along with the "mob mentality" that we can fall into. This book is a springboard to discussing with students how words can hurt and that bullying has power when we follow along instead of thinking for ourselves and standing up. As an educator, this book would certainly allow for discussion of text-to-self and text-to-world connections.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for providing me with a digital version of LILA AND THE CROW to read and write an honest review.
This children's hardcover book was written and illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard and translated by Paula Ayer. Each of the 32 pages is covered with beautiful illustrations. Lily is new to the city and wishes for a friend. But when she goes to school, she is bullied about her black hair, dark skin and dark eyes and called "A crow!"
Days later she trips and falls on her way home. A crow lands near her and she gets a brilliant idea that stops the bullying and helps her make new friends.
This is a great book for parents and teachers to read to young children and for lessons about friendship, inclusion and bullying.
5*****

I understood it was a story about bullying, but the ending left me baffled, I mean, I kind of thought it was neat, but confused me- was she native american? were the crows magical? seriously, WHAT? I'm guessing some small children will like the story and some parent or teacher can try and explain the ending. Illustrations were lovely. I received a free download of book from Net Galley in exchange for a review, but it didn't influence my opinion.

As a ally concious educator, I am always looking fir ways to include multicultural literature in my classroom that will help children see themselves in our classroom or be used a a window to understand those that are different from them. I ha high hopes for Lila and was left feeling pretty disappointed. There was no clear theme to the story, it didn't seem to flow naturally and there was a serious lack of character development. There were multiple opportunities to give characters depth and make them someone you cared about, but they were not capitalized on. I felt as though the child simply nought into the misrepresentation of herself as a way to cope. It was disappointing.

Oh lila, from the outset my heart felt so sad that you were not accepted because of your dark hair, eyes and skin. The sadness in your eyes and the rejection you felt in the school grounds is where many children have been. I am glad I got to read your story but I am sad that it happened in the first place...

I feel my words cannot do justice in explaining just why I loved reading Lila and the Crow so much. From the outset Lila's story had an impact on me, bullying in any form is NOT ok. I felt a genuine sadness in my heart for Lila as she played alone, hiding under her cap, jumper and glasses.

The illustration of Lila's eyes drew me into the story as it summed up all her feelings in one picture. The colours depicted the mood throughout the book and in pictures where Lila was all rugged up walking, I felt the wind moving and the trees rustling. I want to get lost in more of Grimard's illustrations.

The book is a moving story about bullying that is done in a manner that is gentle while still getting Lila's story across. Grimard has taken the feelings of many children within the school yard and shown how words can sadden and damage the soul; fortunately this story doesn't end in sorrow. I felt the crow in the story was very symbolic, particularly because she eventually sees the good side of the crows and takes that lesson and turns her situation into a positive. I was cheering for Lila and as it says in the book "She is magnificent!"

This book would be good to use from ages 5 and above for the book to be its most impacting, and in the situational section of a library. I highly recommend this book.

...So sweet Lila, I am glad your story ended well and that happiness was found, you were brave and strong and I hope others are brave and strong after reading your story

I think this children's book has been released at a time when our world really needs to absorb and to believe in the message it contains. We need to embrace the diversity that makes North America so special and it is especially important that we teach our children love rather than hate and tolerance rather than judgement.

In this story Lila experiences both discrimination and bullying based solely on her appearance.  Unfortunately, this is often what happens in real life and the children who are targeted are often unsure as to how to deal with it. This is also true of Lila.

Although Lila's race is never specifically mentioned, it is clear to me that her ancestry is aboriginal and  this story is a fable in the style of all aboriginal tales going back hundreds of years. As with those tales of old, this story features an animal who is central to the plot.

When Lila's family moves to a new town, she is excited about meeting and making new friends when school begins. However, her hopes are shattered when on her first day of school when a boy points at her and shouts: “A crow! A crow! The new girl's hair is black like a crow!” On her way home she is upset and barely notices the crow that tries to get her attention.

The next day she covers her hair, thinking this will stop the bullying. However, the boy points at her dark skin and taunts her about that instead. When she covers her face, he makes fun of her dark eyes. From that day on, Lila hides under a turtleneck, dark glasses, and a hat, but the taunting and bullying continue.

Every day on her way home, she sees a crow who seems to want to tell her something. Lila ignores the bird and even throws rocks at it, but it won't go away.

Meanwhile, the great autumn festival is coming up soon. While the other kids prepare their costumes, Lila is sadder and lonelier than ever.

At her lowest point of despair, she has a magical encounter with the crow who opens Lila's eyes to the beauty of being different. This gives Lila the courage to proudly embrace her true self. And the kids at school learn a powerful lesson.

We, as parents and as members of a diverse society sometimes need to be reminded that words can hurt and that our children are vulnerable. We need to teach our children to judge people not on their religion or on the colour of their skin, but rather on their character and on their actions. This book will open their eyes and reinforces the beauty of diversity.

I love the message contained within this book and I believe it is important.

I rate this book as 5 out of 5 Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 and I think every parent, every school, and every library should own a copy of this book.

Lila got put through what no parent wants their kid to go through, racism. Yes it was shown and more like schoolyard bullying in the book. But when you are teased about your hair, then your skin and even your eyes being dark....that's racism. The author clearly wanted to write a book that touched on bullying in multiple respects and I agree with that wholeheartedly. This book had writing and illustrations that allow readers to slip into Lila's skin for a while and feel the pain of being a new girl who just wanted a friend but instead received prejudice and mockery. Her road from hiding who she was to accepting and showing her classmates the beauty in being different was very touching. I enjoyed reading this book and felt it was a great addition to the much needed books representing POC characters.

While I agree that this book showed the negatives prejudice. Not calling out the racism and accepting being called a crow can be misconstrued as having a little girl accept racism from her classmates and not really confronting the issue. While I don't believe that was the author's intent, a stronger stance could have prevented this.

Rating: 4 Stars

This is a beautiful children's story about bullying and turning negativity into inspiration to shine. This is a nice story I will share often with my kids.

4.5 stars

I would like to thank NetGalley and Annick Press for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After I finished reading “Lila and the Crow” by Gabrielle Grimard, I noticed that I had just read another bird themed book from the publisher Annick Press and that was “Rosie the Raven,” which I thoroughly enjoyed! “Lila and the Crow” was a truly unique children’s book about the importance of accepting your own individual appearances no matter what other people say!

Lila had just recently moved to a new town and she wanted to make some new friends on her first day of school. But when Lila comes to school, a boy named Nathan ends up making fun of her by saying that she looks like a crow and this causes the rest of the class to make fun of Lila too. The next day, Lila tried to cover her hair since the other kids said that it was as dark as a crow, but then the other kids started saying that Lila has dark skin like a crow’s and they continued bullying her about her “crow” appearance until Lila had nearly covered up her whole body to avoid the bullying. One day however, the school’s autumn festival had arrived and all of Lila’s classmates were excited to be wearing costumes during the event. But Lila was still miserable from all the bullying she has received and when she finally hits her lowest point, a crow suddenly came up to Lila. It turns out that the crow has been following Lila throughout the story and it was trying to tell Lila something, but Lila kept ignoring the crow throughout the story. Now, Lila decides to give her attention to the crow and…

What is the crow trying to tell Lila?

Read this book to find out!

Gabrielle Grimard has done a great job at telling this story as it details the upsetting effects that bullying has on people (especially children), while also teaching the readers about the importance of being yourself no matter what everyone else says about your appearance. Whenever I saw Lila getting bullied at school due to looking different from the other students, I felt a lot of emotion for her as I know how upsetting bullying can be for a child, especially if the child did not do anything that would warrant such cruelty. I was amazed at how Gabrielle Grimard realistically shows the impact that bullying can have on a child as we see scenes of Lila trying to cover herself up to avoid the bullying and getting more miserable as the bullying worsens. I was also intrigued about Lila’s relationship with the crows (even though not much was really explained about the context of their relationship) as it gave the book a supernatural feel as it seems like Lila is connected to the crows somehow and the crows really want to help Lila with her problems at school. Gabrielle Grimard’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous to look at as Lila looks extremely unique from her classmates as she is mostly dressed in solid red colors while her classmates are in more colorful clothing. I really loved the images of the crows and the forest life itself as it looks so exotic and I loved the way that the crows look mysterious on each image as you are wondering what they want to say to Lila throughout the story.

The reason why I took off half a star from the rating was because I felt that the characters were a bit too flat, especially regarding Lila as we do not know why she moved from her old town or why the crows want to communicate with her. I was also wondering about whether Lila was connected to the crows or not as it seemed a bit bizarre that Lila is the only person who can kind of communicate with the crows and it makes me wonder if Lila had any sort of special power that we should be aware of.

Overall, “Lila and the Crow” is a great read for anyone who wants to read about the negative effects of bullying and for anyone who wants to read about birds (crows, especially)! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

I'm always on the hunt for diverse books for my child's bookshelf, and unfortunately this isn't one I will be adding. It's fine, but nothing special.

My 5 year old and I read the book together and we both loved it. Would be a great lesson to do with a class of students. They could create a mask that identifies their inner self. My daughter likes to say she is a cheetah so I know she would connect with the idea :)

Wow! This book is beautifully illustrated. It is a sad book for the most part, but a great lesson.