Review by Booklist Review
A small boy stands in a field of tall grass. Looking up at an airplane flying through the sky, he imagines what it would be like on that flight--to fly faster than a car can go, to soar past a train, to burst into space. He imagines stepping off the plane onto the surface of the moon, where, when he jumps, his weightlessness will make him fly. But soon he must bring himself back to the plane, back to Earth, where his mother is waiting for him. The simple text (with its ending a gentle reminder of Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are) appears one brief line to a page. Though this idea (and it's more an idea than a story) will catch kids' imagination, it is only when combined with McCarty's art that it soars. Using pencils, McCarty creates soft-edged, silver-tone artwork notable for its elegant simplicity. Yet this is undoubtedly child-friendly. The train, the plane, and even the surface of the moon have a solidity that will make children want to reach out and touch, even as the pictures' dreamy softness will move kids to a space inside themselves. McCarty catches both the way children's imaginations work and the connections they make. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McCarty's (Hondo and Fabian) silvery-white pencil illustrations and unadorned sentences make for an evanescent airplane journey. A vintage twin-engine aircraft (the popular Douglas DC-3, introduced in 1935) soars into fluffy gray-and-white clouds as the book begins. "On the ground/ a small boy/ looks up./ He wonders/ what it would be like/ to be on that flight." Readers see a boy with a dandelion puff of light hair, knee-deep in fuzzy lichen-gray grass, then inside the plane, gazing out the window with a look of wonderment. The plane passes over an olive-gold convertible and "a train/ speeding down the tracks," allowing for another '30s reference to the famous Santa Fe Super Chief passenger line. This is no ordinary voyage, however, because the mysterious plane "would fly into/ outer space." McCarty shows it leaving Earth's orbit and gliding over a cratered but soft-focus Moon surface. The young passenger, in luminous astronaut gear, steps out and takes some weightless hops before climbing back aboard. In a haunting image whose layout recalls Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, the child runs home through the soft grass, then into the arms of his mother, who has been taking laundry off the line as an airplane flies high above. McCarty's narrative unfolds in a whisper, with quiet words and cushiony layers of soothing gray. Despite a potentially exciting blastoff, the classic machines never sputter or roar, and every detail seems well-insulated in reverie. This bedtime story for flight fans has the loft of a goose-down pillow. Ages 3-6. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-This gentle bedtime story begins when a small boy sees a prop plane in the sky and imagines riding in it-first gliding over a car, then soaring past a train. His flight of imagination takes him beyond the ocean and into outer space, where he lands on the moon, takes a few steps on its surface, jumps, and flies "just like the airplane." At last he returns home to his mother, who tucks him into bed to dream of airplanes. A prop plane is just the right technology for this subdued tale, and the monochromatic pencil-on-watercolor-paper illustrations create the atmosphere of a silent movie. This quiet mood encourages readers to listen for the hum of the engine and the whisper of the wind. The book's sensual qualities will entrance youngsters, and the soothing text and soft artwork create the comfort and reassurance that children need at bedtime. A must-buy.-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
When a boy sees an airplane overhead he imagines what it would be like to fly to the moon. Soft pencil drawings (a la Chris Van Allsburg) with a light blush of color set on thick, creamy paper gracefully bring the boy's fantasy to life. The ending, however, seems abrupt, as he returns home and goes directly to bed. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A boy's imagination carries him to great heights in this gentle adventure. When an airplane flies overhead, a small boy watches from the ground and wonders what it would be like to glide above a car on the highway, to soar past a train and to venture beyond a sailboat on the ocean. The aspiring little astronaut fantasizes traveling into outer space aboard the airplane and landing on the moon where he could jump and fly across the lunar landscape. But his imaginary moonwalk ends in time for him to be tucked safely into bed where he can pursue more aerial dreams. Softly shaded granular pencil drawings in muted grays echo the quiet text and capture the weightless wonder and timeless silence of flight in outer space. A simple and reassuring adaptation of the home-away/home-again theme with a lunar twist. Good bedtime fare. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
