In addition to being a best-selling author, James McBride is also an accomplished musician. This is immediately evident in The Good Lord Bird; his words sing. The reader can sense how much fun McBride has in his light touch and sense of humor. The folksy metaphors and analogies, the comical misunderstandings, and mistaken identities do nothing to detract from the heavy themes at which The Good Lord Bird aims. In fact, these stylistic choices elevate our understanding of the world McBride has masterfully developed. The narrator, Henry Shackleford - an enslaved child who follows the abolitionist John Brown from Kansas to his infamous raid on Harper’s Ferry - gives his side of the story with a humble and affecting perspective on all whom they encounter. The Good Lord Bird is many things at once. An adventure story highlighting the battles of Bloody Kansas; a questioning look at the meaning of faith, belief, and courage; an observation of the institution of slavery - a sticky web that everyone gets caught up in, according to Henry. But most of all it probes the question of identity: who we are to ourselves, to others, and how we live up to those expectations - and ultimately, how we might transcend them.