What are the motifs in Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson?

Empathy is a recurring idea. Frannie doesn't like going to church and isn't sure how she feels about Jesus Christ. She doesn't measure up in her friend Samantha's view, Samantha being the daughter of a Baptist preacher and very religious. However, Frannie practices the values that could be described as Christian. She has a sympathetic heart and an easy understanding of and empathy for other people's problems and strife. Perhaps Frannie has the wisdom usually associated with a more mature person due to the family problems she has experienced and from a life-time of protecting her older brother, Sean, who is born deaf.