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\nBook Summary:
\nJust when seve nteen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his sm all and painfully dull Arkansas town\, it all disappears. . . .
\nIn the summer before Cullen's senior year\, a nominally-depressed birdwatche r named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily\, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-cal led Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone's eating "Lazar us burgers." But as absurd as the town's carnival atmosphere has become\, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen&rsquo\;s sensit ive\, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicabl y disappeared.
\nWhile Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love\, holding his fragile family together\, and muddli ng his way into adulthood\, a young missionary in Africa\, who has lost hi s faith\, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find i t. As distant as the two stories seem at the start\, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting\, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.
\nComplex but truly ex traordinary\, tinged with melancholy and regret\, comedy and absurdity\, t his novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls\, &ldquo\;that damn bird.&rdq uo\; It&rsquo\;s about the dream of second chances.
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