From: Nel <nelcward_at_charter.net>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2011 08:31:07 -0700

One of the most powerful books I have ever read about our economy's affect on children is now 20 years old. "My dad and I live in an airport . . . the airport is better than the streets," says a child beginning his description about their homelessness in Eve Bunting's Fly away Home. The narration goes from calm acceptance to anger while Ronald Himler's deceptively peaceful watercolors present the father and son trying to blend into the large spaces of the airport. Although the restrictive security policies set into motion within the past decade may make this book less realistic than when it was first published, it still carries the horror of the situation for adults while showing the close relationship between the two characters for young children. The bird that escapes from the airport also provides a sense of hope to the boy that he and his father, too, will be able to escape their life there.

Nel Ward Newport, OR
Received on Wed 04 May 2011 08:31:07 AM CDT