Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Wings to Fly
Historical Fiction
For ages 10 and up
Groundwood, 1997 ISBN: 0888998449
It’s been five years since Josie and her family came to live on the Canadian prairie. She, her elder brother Sam, and her little brother Matt are happy in their new environment. The farm that their family has created is doing well, and this year Ma will even have cucumbers to pickle.
As so often is the case, just when all is going relatively smoothly, trouble arrives in Curlew. Influenza, brought to Curlew after the end of The Great War, makes its rounds, leaving children without parents, parents without children, and many other victims besides. Josie and her family struggle to help their neighbors and then fight to save Sam’s life when the influenza arrives at their own door.
During this time of great pain, suffering, and sorrow, Josie gets to know the new family that has arrives in the area. The Grahams are struggling to make a go of it on the prairie, Mrs. Graham hating the place so much that she retreats into herself leaving her husband and young daughter, Margaret, with very little support. Josie wants Margaret to be her friend, and yet making friends with the stand-offish girl is uphill work. One thing that the girls seem to have in common is their fondness for a house that Josie calls “the silver house.” The house’s owner wants to have nothing to do with it, and thus the house stands empty and alone, a sad place with a sad story.
Filled with exciting events, mystery, and the familiar struggles of a young girl growing up, Wings to Fly is a warm and satisfying book. It serves to remind us that women today owe a great debt of gratitude to those who went before, those who broke through all the barriers that society had created to fence women and their powerful spirits in. It is inspiring and uplifting, and the reader can celebrate with Josie when she succeeds in her endeavors.
Wings to Fly is the sequel to Ticket to Curlew and it won the Violet Downey Book Award.
