Told in four alternating voices, “Flight of the Puffin” has the potential to inspire readers to leave positive messages to peers who may be dealing with a struggle. Our main character, Libby, is a bully who deep down, needs affirmation from her parents that she’s a good person. On an index card, she writes what she needs to hear, “You are amazing.” Realizing that others may need to hear the same message, she gets to work designing more index cards with positive messages, which she leaves around town for others to find. This spreads to putting some in the mail, each with a puffin stamp, to people she reads about around the country. Recipients of the these messages begin to pay it forward to others who need building up as well.

This feel-good story is written by Ann Braden, author of “The Benefits of Being an Octopus.” Besides being a writer, Braden founded the Local Love Brigade, whose purpose is to send “love postcards” to those who are facing hate.  Chapters of the Local Love Brigade and popping up all over the country.

Hopefully readers will read the author bio on the book jacket and realize that the storyline’s inspiration doesn’t need to end when they close the book. This is a sweet read which has the reader cheering on the underdogs — one trying to save his small country school from closing, a nonconformist, perhaps on the spectrum, who is a target for bullying, a non-binary homeless teen, rejected by their parents, and Libby who wants to do something big.