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In chapter two of The Bird that Sang in Color, Donna sees Vincent playing a dulcimer in his room while listening to one of his favorite bands, The Incredible String Band. Several years later, she sees the above picture in the sketchbook of his

In the third chapter of The Bird that Sang in Color, Donna challenges Vincent’s decision to accept a baking job, saying that he could do so much more. About a week later, she tastes homemade bread that he baked and marvels and “how

I chose to use this image as the cover of my book because I believed that more than any other picture in the sketchbook, it most closely captured the true essence of my brother. He was a simple person, but not in the sense that he wasn’t

One of the pictures that Donna finds in her brother’s sketchbook is one of him in his protesting days. As someone who has participated in many anti-war protests, I am deeply moved by this drawing. War, I believe, is the single must

When Donna sees the picture of Vincent playing a penny whistle in his sketchbook, she is transported back to her childhood when her brother gave her one of these tin flutes. The exchange below is from the opening scene of The Bird that Sang in

Some of the pictures in Vincent’s sketchbook, like the one featured here, were uncolored and Donna wondered if her brother had eventually intended to color them in. When Donna sees this picture, she recalls the night she, Frank, and

This is the third picture Donna sees in Vincent’s book of sketches. She remembers a time after Vincent began working at the bakery in town when he bought a telescope and invited her over to look through it while he guided her star gazing.

The second picture Donna finds in Vincent’s sketchbook is one of him as a child playing the mandolin. She observes that his stance with one foot in front of the other somehow reveals his unassuming, humble nature, and marvels at how he was

This is the first picture in the sketchbook that Donna discovers in The Bird that Sang in Color. Music is already a part of the picture as it shows a bunch of albums beside Vincent, but it also reveals another type of music–the music of

Above is a drawing of a character from Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. In Chapter Three of my new novel, Donna finds her brother, Vincent, creating this drawing. The theme of art runs throughout this book. The story