Time to Fly

by George Ella Lyon, Stephanie Fizer Coleman (Illustrator)

Overview

In the spirit of Mark Teague’s Fly, Baby Bird learns to overcome his fear of leaving the nest in this sweet and encouraging picture book.

Mama Bird says it’s time to fly! Baby Bird thinks not. Nest is best...or is it? With the help of his mama, Baby Bird discovers the amazing things that can happen if he finds the courage to spread his wings and fly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534474109
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	07/26/2022
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD370L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

George Ella Lyon is the author of Trucks Roll!, Planes Fly!, and Boats Float!, cowritten with her son Benn. Among George Ella’s other books are the ALA Notable All the Water in the World, What Forest Knows, and Time to Fly. A former Kentucky Poet Laureate, she lives with her family in Lexington, Kentucky. Visit her online at GeorgeEllaLyon.com.

Stephanie Fizer Coleman is an illustrator with a penchant for playful color and rich texture. She is the illustrator of many books, including Five Flying Penguins, Bird Count, and Time to Fly. Stephanie grew up in a rural area, so it’s no surprise that furry and feathered creatures are her favorite subjects to draw. When she’s not drawing, Steph can be found sipping tea and reading books. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and two dogs. Learn more at StephanieFizerColeman.com.

Editorial Reviews

05/23/2022

“You’ve outgrown this woven home./ It’s time to fly!” urges a mother bird, bright blue with an orange breast, who perches a few feet away from the tree where her last offspring stubbornly refuses to budge. The little bird, however, not a fan of change, insists that “Nest is best.” Readers can sympathize, given the vast sky above and the vertiginous bird’s eye view of the ground below. But persistence eventually pays off when the mother tempts the would-be fledgling with a snack, rewards its short round trip with a snuggle (shown in a sweet extreme close-up), and then delivers some hard truths: a flightless baby bird is a sitting duck for a hawk, shown circling in the background above. And so the bird steels itself, then takes off to join its siblings: “Hello wings!/ Hello air! / I’m on my way...// to everywhere!” A fresh breeze blows through this familiar story of nurture and independence, thanks to Lyon’s (Trains Run!) emphatic metered verse, which offers structure to the avian ordeal, and Fizer Coleman’s (Birds of a Feather) digital art, whose varied cinematic framing evokes layered textures of printmaking and watercolor. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly

2022-04-13
A timorous fledgling needs some gentle persuasion when it’s time to leave the nest.

“You’ve outgrown this woven home,” says a mother bird. “It’s time to fly!” But the sky is so big, the nest so safe and cozy…even a quick flutter to a nearby branch seems too much. “Don’t you want to see the meadow? / Taste new bugs beside the creek?” “Nest is best. / Maybe next week.” Capturing both the lyrical quality of Lyon’s rhymed colloquy and a sense of how scary the wide world looks to the little bird, Coleman offers spare, delicately detailed views of an adult robin and her mottled offspring on separate leafy twigs suspended against a seemingly boundless sky or, sometimes, a broad expanse of white space. Instead of resorting to force, the mother wisely allows the little bird to persuade themselves (“My sister and my brother flew. / I guess if they can, I can too!”) and take the leap: “I’m on my way // to everywhere!” Similar in message if very different in tone to Drew Sheneman’s more theatrical Nope! (2016), this kinder, gentler alternative reassures both prospective grads and younger children heading off to preschool or day care that they are ready to take wing. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sensitive, loving variation on a perennial picture-book theme. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews