Three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Angela Johnson and illustrator Loren Long have put together a masterful story depicting the contributions of Tuskegee Airmen.
A young African American boy tells the story of his great-great-uncle who took his love of flying from jumping off the chicken coop to smooth flying in the sky. Wind Flyers is the perfect book to educate young people about these heroes of World War II. This book gives a small glimpse into the role the brave heroes played in our country’s history. ( )

Wind flyers is a great story about the love of flying. I connected with this book is a special way. Considering the presidents state of the union address and giving the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh and passing over the Tuskegee Airmen is a reminder of the injustices and inequity that is existed then. This book is easy and doesn't express the muddle of that time. The illustrations were bright and brilliant. ( )

The story is told by the nephew of an African American man who desired to fly his whole life. His uncle became a Tuskegee airmen in World War II. He was a heroic man, who later began crop dusting again, it was not the same as being in the all-black airforce group of the 332nd. He still loved to fly and took his nephew up in a plane at the end. The character of the nephew is rather flat, the uncle in the story is dynamic. ( )

A boy’s love for flying takes him from the dirt roads of Alabama to the war skies of Europe during the time of World War II. Since he was a boy all he wanted was to be a wind flyer. He would jump off of barns and even paid seventy-five cents to go up in a barnstormer plane. When he came down he was sad because he felt the wind and knew he always wanted to be connected with that feeling. The Air force came looking for flyer, and at first they did not want squadrons of his mahogany skin color but eventually he became the 332nd Tuskegee Airman. After the war he never wanted to come back down from the sky. He began crop dusting since that was the only way he could still fly and feel the wind. He knew things were changing with faster, bigger planes and more of them but the ski still felt the same to him. ( )

Great uncle tells his story and dreams of flying. The little boy is inspired by his love of the wind and loves flying with his uncle while hearing war stories. The wind was magical to them and it was a bond between them. This book shares discrimination of race during the war and informs of Tuskegee airmen's contributions and bravery toward war efforts. The setting of wartime and how they never lost anyone puts empathy on readers to understands the dangers of helping this way. Pictures in this book emphasized feelings and took you into the book and were perfect to show meaning for all age students. ( )