Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
For Those Who Want to Fly
Picture Book
For ages 6 and up
Clavis Publishing, 2009 ISBN: 978-1605370323
When we come into the world, each one of us has to figure out how we want to face life’s challenges. Often figuring this out is a complicated business that takes time.
In this extraordinary book the author explores the idea that the challenges that we face all the way through life are part of a grand journey. In her artwork she follows what a little baby bird does after it comes out if its egg. We see scenes from the little bird’s life, scenes that are often sweetly funny. The text that accompanies these scenes introduces ideas that are universal in nature.
As we accompany the little bird we see how events in our past get in our way, preventing us “from seeing where we are going.” Sometimes we fall down, which can be uncomfortable, but it can also be a good thing. There are those “happy moments” that are so wonderful that they “make our feet feel like flowers.”
Just like the little bird, whose little flappy wings are not big enough for flight, we have to accept that “Having wings does not necessarily mean we can fly…yet!” We have a lot of learning to do before we can soar, and that is perfectly all right.
With wonderfully minimal illustrations and words of wisdom that are timeless, this is a book readers of all ages will be able to appreciate.
