TheTwenty One Balloons William du Pene 1948 Newbery Winner

‘There are two kinds of travel’….. So begins this 1948 Newbery award winner, a brilliant book ranging from scientific truths to absolute fantasy. At first I thought the mingling of fact and fiction would disappoint me. To the contrary I was completely enthralled and really involved in the adventure. Black and white illustrations complemented the text and explained further some of the inventions. Underneath all the fantasy was a depth and a number of truths regarding ‘teamship’ and questions regarding riches. Excellent writing and highly recommended.

A footnote – at first I was captivated as I too have flown in hot air balloons. This has been with a friend, an amateur in the Pyrennees along with my husband, not to mention my then 87 year old mum and friend! It is the most magical and wonderful form of transport. I have already recommended this to Dave and his family, especially Chloe whose childhood took her round the Pyrenean countryside as her mum followed their beautiful balloon named One World Dreaming.

Sounds absolutely fantastic! You certainly piqued my interest...I'll be watching for this book.

Do let me know when you have read it. Do you read YA and/or children's literature? One of my projects over this year has been reading Newbery Medal winners.
The ALA awarded its first John Newbery Medal for most distinguished contribution to American children's literature in 1922. If you too are interested in reading all the Newbery Medal winners do join in! You can find the titles for each year along with other reviews at http://newberryproject.blogspot.com/

I think I already joined in; I unfortunately haven't read a Newbery book since I joined.

I read everything from Winnie the Pooh to esoteric academic stuff. When I was a kid, I didn't read kid's books, so now I'm making up for lost time.

The Twenty-One Balloons is on my top ten list.