Controversial Book: "Fly Away Home"

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Book Title:

Fly Away Home

Author:

Eve Bunting

Illustrator:

Ronald Himler

Type of Book:

Picture Book

Age Level:

4-8

My Star Rating:

***

Summary

·      This is a tale about a dad and his son who live in an airport with only one rule to follow: “Do not get caught".

My Thoughts

·      I really enjoyed this book. Yes, I do understand how it is controversial, I mean it is all about sneaking around and being dishonest. It tells about the life of a boy who should be in school rather than spending his days trying to stay unnoticed. But, regardless of the controversies, this book has wonderful themes of family, community, dreams, aspirations and hope. It also deals with the themes of financial issues, and finding a means of “getting by”, which are issues so commonly seen in public schools. I was very happy with this book and the messages it had to offer. I also loved the watercolor illustrations that caught the raw emotions of the child and his father. I think kids would appreciate it for the honesty and truth it speaks about life, and about struggles.

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How to Use in the Classroom

·      This book would be a great book to use in a variety of lessons. Perhaps you work in a poor neighborhood, or an inner city. This book would be great for opening up a class discussion about how love and family are always present even though money maybe hard to come by. This could also be used to teach about how dreams and hope don’t cost a thing, that regardless of where we come from, or what experiences/opportunities we have, that dreaming and hoping can help us get through the tough times. This book has so many possibilities, it could even be read to a wealthy class, in hopes of building schemas and bringing awareness. 

 

More Resources:

• For more information about Eve Bunting, click here.
• For classroom ideas with this book, click here.