Flight School (with audio recording)

by Lita Judge, Lita Judge (Illustrator)

Overview

A persevering penguin is determined to fly in this adorably inspiring Classic Board Book from the creator of Red Hat and Red Sled.

Although little Penguin has the soul of an eagle, his body wasn’t built to soar. But Penguin has an irrepressible spirit, and he adamantly follows his dreams to flip, flap, fly! Even if he needs a little help with the technical parts, this penguin is ready to live on the wind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442481787
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Series:	Flight School Series
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD490L (what's this?)
File size:	26 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lita Judge is the award-winning author and illustrator of many children’s books, including Flight School, Penguin Flies Home, Red Sled, Red Hat, Good Morning to Me!, Born in the Wild, Even the Smallest Will Grow, When You Need Wings, and her illustrated young adult novel, Mary’s Monster. She lives with her husband, two cats, and a parrot in New Hampshire. You can visit her online at LitaJudge.com.

Editorial Reviews

Penguins cannot fly. For others, that seems like a definitive fact, but for irrepressible little Penguin, it is only a challenge. With a soaring spirit, our brave earthbound flipper attempts to find a way to flap his way into nature history books. Can he do it? To find out, you have to read this sweet picture book.

★ 03/01/2014
K-Gr 2—Little Penguin, who has the self-proclaimed "soul of an eagle," wants to fly. Steering his motorboat into a dockside flight school for birds, he announces to the other feathery students and teacher that "[he] was hatched to fly." Teacher and Flamingo are unconvinced, but they allow Little Penguin to take lessons anyway. Outfitted with goofy red googles, Little Penguin certainly has the will, if not the talent. Even after practicing for weeks and enthusiastically jumping off the dock with a loud "Geronimo!" he still flops deep into the ocean instead of soaring above. Brokenhearted, he sets sail for home. But then Flamingo has an idea. Tying feathers and a fishing line onto Little Penguin, Flamingo helps lift him skyward while Little Penguin does his best to "Flip, flap, flip, flap, flap." Soon, he soars as he had always dreamed of doing. Alas, it doesn't last. Unfortunately, even with the soul of an eagle, "he still has the body of a little round penguin." Nevertheless, his dream achieved, Little Penguin leaves flight school one happy little bird. So happy, in fact, that he soon returns with another friend with his own dreams of flying-an ostrich with the "soul of a swallow." Judge successfully balances the humor in the storytelling, the drawings, and the situations. Rendered in watercolor and pencil and situated on a bright yellow background, the illustrations perfectly fit this delightful and charming book.—Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

02/17/2014
Some are born to run; little Penguin believes he was “hatched to fly.” That’s why he’s come all the way from the South Pole (via a bright red motorboat) to attend a tropical shoreline flight school run for birds by birds. “I have the soul of an eagle,” he announces to the skeptical staff. Penguin soon discovers that zoology is destiny, no matter how nifty his red aviator goggles or how eager his new friends are to help get him aloft, which they manage to do, albeit momentarily, thanks to some engineering worthy of MacGyver. Up until the very final pages—in which Penguin returns to the flight school accompanied by a much larger friend whose aerodynamic potential is similarly problematic—the action has the tight comic pacing of a classic cartoon, one with heart to match Penguin’s own. Judge (Red Hat), working in watercolor and pencil, takes her hero into the sun-bleached sky and into the drink (oops) with aplomb, while her finely delineated feathered cast does its endearing best to ignore the obvious. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-02-05
A small round penguin with lofty aspirations finds success of a sort in a sweet, if slight, appreciation of the resourcefulness of teachers. The sign near a cluster of wooden pilings in the middle of the water reads "FLIGHT SCHOOL / WE TEACH BIRDS TO FLY." "I was hatched to fly," announces Penguin upon his arrival from the South Pole. "I have the soul of an eagle," he assures the gently dubious Teacher. "Penguin and the other birdies practiced for weeks," but he succeeds only in plunging into the ocean—not terribly gracefully. He is ready to give up when a solution devised by Teacher and Flamingo has Penguin flying, if only for a few moments, and his happiness at this one-time achievement is lasting. Judge's edge-to-edge watercolor-and-pencil art is lively and amusing. Her various sea and shore birds—gulls, a pelican, a heron and a small owl among them—and their fledglings are just a little scruffy, and they are exaggeratedly, expressively funny in their anthropomorphic roles as teachers and students. Background shades of warm yellow, sea blue and green, and brown sand let the friendly, silly faces and bodies of the birds take center stage. Though Penguin doesn't discover any of his own true talents, young listeners will probably empathize with wanting something so far out of reach. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews