© 2025

For assistance accessing the Online Public File for KAXE or KBXE, please contact: Steve Neu, IT Engineer, at 800-662-5799.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mini-Book Club: 'On a Wing and a Tear'

Two women and a book cover in between them. The book is "On a Wing and a Tear" by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Contributed
/
Book cover via Heartdrum/HarperCollins
Librarians Tracy Kampa and Tammy Bobrowsky discuss Cynthia Leitich Smith's On a Wing and a Tear.

Children's librarian Tracy Kampa and “What We're Reading” producer and librarian Tammy Bobrowsky discuss Cynthia Leitich Smith's new book "On a Wing and a Tear."

Cynthia Leitich Smith’s latest book features Grampa Charlie Halfmoon, his grandson Ray, their friend Mel, Great-Grandfather Bat, and Gray Squirrel. And a grand road trip. Smith’s middle grade novel On a Wing and a Tear is full of great characters, good messaging, and wild adventures.

Here’s our What We’re Reading mini-book club conversation between Grand Rapids Area Library children’s librarian Tracy Kampa and What We’re Reading producer Tammy Bobrowsky.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.

Tracy: Now let's talk about one of my favorite books, certainly of the month and possibly of the year. It's called On a Wing and a Tear, and it's by Cynthia Leitich Smith who is a Muscogee author. She is also an editor at Heartdrum, which is an arm of HarperCollins--they publish books by Native American authors, which I think is a wonderful addition to the world of children's literature.

I particularly loved On a Wing and a Tear. In this book, Grampa Halfmoon, his grandson Ray, and their friend Mel are tasked to bring Great-Grandfather Bat and Gray Squirrel to a rematch of a famous baseball game played among the animals, where, eight hundred generations ago, Great-Grandfather Bat was the star. But right now, his wing is torn, hence the title On a Wing and a Tear. And he can't get there by himself. So here we start on the Great American road trip with Grampa, Ray, Mel and of course, Gray Squirrel and Great-Grandfather Bat.

Now I have to start out by saying I am absolutely surprised how much I love this book, even as an adult, I don't love books with talking animals. And as a child, I detested books with talking animals because that just couldn't be real whatsoever. I didn't want to waste my time reading it.

Tammy: Were you surprised that the animals were talking? Because it surprised me.

Tracy: It absolutely surprised me. Honestly, on the front cover of this book--it wasn't until after I got far enough in to realize we had talking animals that I even looked inside the car and saw a bat hanging there and a squirrel. So, they are tasked with having to take Grandfather Bat and Gray Squirrel to this very important rematch of a game. So, what did you think, Tammy?

Tammy: It's such a warm book. The characters are so likable. Grampa Charlie Halfmoon is just a wonderful character, and is unflappable, by the way. If you notice, throughout this entire book, it takes a lot to surprise him. He knows things that we are not privy to and that makes him a really interesting character. And Ray and Mel are just charming. I love their dynamic as friends. It is just such a heartwarming book and who doesn't love a road trip?

Tracy: And I think the author did a phenomenal job of weaving indigenous history into this road trip without hitting the reader over the head with “Hey, this is indigenous history.” In particular, Mel was working on homework that had to be finished, and she was very much taken part way through with the fact that they were driving along similar roads that her ancestors walked during the Trail of Tears.

Tammy: I thought that was handled so nicely. Just the idea of ‘how do modern day native people reconcile the past while being a Native American in this country today?’ I think she did a really fabulous job with that.

Tracy: There's a quote in here that I'd like to share that speaks exactly to that: “High above, clouds gathered, and the sky began to drizzle. Mel's mind wandered to what Great-Grandfather Bat had said about a tear in her heart, how spending time on her ancestral land could help mend it. It had sounded so strange to hear him put it that way. Mel had never thought of herself as being ripped away--that tragedy had happened generations ago to other people. But what if it had never happened? When she imagined centuries of Muscogee people immersed in their thriving culture, thousands of them fluent in in their tribal language, she couldn't help feeling the ache of loss.” And I love how Cynthia Leitich Smith was able to weave that in without it being a book just about that. But I also really, really admired how well-rounded her characters were. Because Grampa Halfmoon--while he was certainly the driver, he was the driver in a whole other way. He was heading on this road trip because he needed to rekindle a romance. You know, he wasn't just the guy driving. He was the guy with the history and he was the guy with the contacts and he was probably the sole guy who could get Great Grandfather Bat back to where he needed to go.

I also really, really loved how the author took a jab at modern day social media influencers.

Tammy: We have to talk about the Buttinskys!

Tracy: Yep, they are a brother and sister pair and they travel all across the country and “butt in” on things that have nothing to do with them in order to get views on social media.

Tammy: I have to tell you this. As soon as we were introduced to the Buttinskys, I had to put this book down. I had the most visceral reaction to them. They just symbolize and represent so much that is bad about social media and certain aspects of the world today because of that nature of butting in and ‘I'm right, you're wrong. And I've got to show you that I'm right’. I had to put it down. I was just in a place where I couldn’t deal with people like that. So Cynthia Leitich Smith created really a perfect foil for the villain in this story because they are so unlikable.

Tracy: Right. Because they think they might have heard Great Grandfather Bat speak--so therefore, what do you have to do? You have to kidnap Great Grandfather Bat and get him to speak on social media!

Tammy: So, it sounds like Cynthia Leitich Smith knocked this one out of the park, right?

Tracy: For me, it was absolutely wonderful--mostly because she took so many disparate pieces and made them into an astoundingly circular narrative, which I think is so difficult to do. I think it was definitely one of my favorite books of this year and that surprised me. And I would just like to point out--I think that Cynthia Leitich Smith wraps up a gift for all of us in this. There's native stories of reverence for the earth, the Great American Road trip, characters who are thoughtful and willing to learn, all wrapped up in a modern bit of folklore with talking bats and talking squirrels, and I really don't think I could have loved it more. Tell me what you thought, Tammy?

Tammy: I think this is the perfect illustration of that saying, “It's not about the destination, it's about the journey?” This story is about the destination because they have to get Great Grandfather Bat to his destination. But so much happens to them on the journey, as far as, like you said, coming full circle with the various issues that they're working out--Ray had lost both his parents and he's still kind of struggling with that; Mel's father is divorced from her mother and he started a new family and she's trying to reconcile with what her relationship is with him and she figures that out on the trip; and then Grampa Halfmoon is able to reunite with a love from his earlier life. So, there was so much on the journey that just made this such a warm and wonderful story to just be with for a few hours.

Tracy: Yeah, I loved to just sit in this story. I also was so intrigued at the end because I really assumed throughout the whole entire book that we would end at the baseball game and we would all be watching the baseball game between the mammals and the birds, and we were not allowed to watch that game. Very, very respectfully, Grampa Halfmoon explained to the kids that this was ancient, and it was traditional, and it was private. If they were invited, then they could be a part of that, but they weren't. So, we don't know what happened at the game, which I think is tantalizing and wonderful at the same time.


Looking for a good book recommendation? Want to recommend a book you've just read? Check out our What We're Reading page on Facebook, or text us at 218-326-1234.

What We're Reading is made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Stay Connected
Tammy Bobrowsky works at Bemidji State University's library. She hosts "What We're Reading," a show about books and authors, and lends her talents as a volunteer DJ.