Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Have you ever noticed how you see or read something about an obscure hobby and then, immediately after that, this same thing keeps popping up everywhere you look? This happens to me all the time.

A few years ago my husband took a sudden interest in the birds that frequented our backyard. First it was the catbird. He swore the catbird was talking to him. This bird (the same bird?) would appear every day in the same location and make the same noises when my husband went outside.

He started talking about other types of birds and before I knew it, he had a hobby out of nowhere. That year he got books about birds for his birthday, for Father’s Day, and for Christmas. For our anniversary that summer, I gave him a hummingbird feeder and a box of suet cakes, each studded with the different seeds that would attract different backyard birds to our yard.

About a week ago, I was looking for something for us to watch after dinner and I found a new (to us) series on Netflix called The Residence. It’s a murder mystery comedy/drama that takes place inside the White House. I was immediately drawn to it because on the day of the recent presidential inauguration, CNN interviewed a former White House Usher and I was fascinated by his description of move in/move out day when one administration leaves and another arrives, all taking place in the very short window of time during the actual inauguration ceremony. I immediately purchased Christopher Emery’s book White House Usher: Stories from the Inside. Living in the DC metro area, I find these stories about life inside the White House intriguing. The Netflix series is brilliant, reminding me of the Knives Out movie franchise. What is most interesting though is that the main character, Detective Cordelia Cupp played brilliantly by Uzo Aduba, is obsessed with birds. She wears a pair of birding binoculars around her neck and carries an enormous encyclopedia of birds in her rather large cross body saddle bag.

So, as I said, birds and birdwatchers are everywhere right now now. Because even though the cover of Gabby Torres is the Best Winner Ever by Angela Dominguez has the main character Gabby next to a standing mixer covered in cake batter, the book is really about Gabby’s father being a birdwatcher who tries to entice Gabby in to joining him in his hobby.

This book, part chapter book and part graphic novel, is a well-done lesson in how to survive in today’s uber-competitive world. Gabby’s two best friends are both winning at something, and Gabby desperately wants to win at something, too. She tries so hard to find something she can win at, instead of doing something she truly enjoys and by virtue of that enjoyment, winning at the game of a life well-lived. Not all of Gabby’s friends are competitive, though, as we get to know her neighbor Finn is quite content to do what he loves to do, read, and not worry about what everyone else is up to.

It’s easy to see how society has fostered this notion of how important winning is to some. Participation trophies, honorable mentions for every competition, padding of high school and college applications to ensure higher rates of admission, it all points to the message that winning is everything. We often hold on to our losses with the same passion that we hold on to our wins.

It takes Gabby a really long time to come to grips with her struggles to find something she can win at, sort of a coming of age moment as she realizes that winning is not the most important thing in life. She wastes a lot of time and money learning this lesson, but in the end, she is finally content with who she is and how to count things in her life as wins, trophy or not.

Thank you NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press for the ARC of this second book in the Gabby Torres series, which is definitely a “win” for author and illustrator Angela Dominguez!