Runner-up for New Zealand Post Children's Book Award: Junior Fiction 2006.

Sil is Jill Harris's first book. As a teacher and librarian, a mother of 3 sons and 2 grandchildren, she has read hundreds of children's books and has wanted to write one herself for several years. When she and her husband moved to their present home, they were surrounded by bush, sea and birds. Tuis got drunk on kowhai flowers in their garden and kererus (native wood pigeons) visited their laburnum tree and ate most of its new leaves every spring. Jill decided to write a story about the birds and set out to discover more about them. She came to the conclusion that birds are pretty smart. Jill also writes poetry and is a liturgist who creates rituals and ceremonies for people who don't go to church any more.