Ming-Li looked up and tried to imagine the sky silent, empty of birds. It was a terrible thought. Her country's leader had called the sparrows enemy of the farmers—they were eating too much grain, he said. He announced a great "Sparrow War" to banish them from China. But Ming-Li did not want to chase the birds away.

As the people of her village gathered with firecrackers and gongs to scatter the sparrows, Ming-Li held her ears and watched in dismay. The birds were falling from the trees, frightened to death! Ming-Li knew she had to do something—even if she couldn't stop the noise. Quietly, she vowed to save as many sparrows as she could, one by one...

From the dust jacket