Fly Away Home

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting, Illustrated by Ronal Himler

Picture book for children the age of 7-11

5 out of 5 stars

Andrew and his father, along with many other families, make their home in an airport after the death of Andrew's father. Even though he can get angry and jealous of others who have a home, he always remembers the hope he found by watching a trapped little bird finally find an opening in a window leading him out of the airport and back to his home.

Fly Away Home is an emotional story that really makes the readers learn to appreciate what they have in life. Through the wonderful watercolor illustrations, the readers see the true emotions of Andrew, the four year old boy illegally living in the airport with his father,  that are also expressed in the text. Here the illustrations and the text work as companions to convey the message of the story. The message of the story relates to appreciation, but more importantly it teaches about hope. Andrew discovers a bird that is trapped within an airport terminal one day. This bird flies into the window many times because he is trying to break free and return home, just like Andrew and his father. One day, the bird finds an opening in a sliding piece of glass, and he proceeds to fly away home. Andrew is given hope from the escape of the bird. He learns that he just needs to be patient and that one day him and his dad will be able to fly away home as well.

No matter what age group I teach in the future I want to use this book within my classroom. I think that the lessons Fly Away Home teaches on appreciation as well as hope are valuable life lessons that all students need to learn or relearn. After reading this book with my class, I would have a discussion with my class on things that we have, use, and do every day that we take for granted. Next, I would implement a writing activity where students would write about what five things they would take with them if they were told they were only allowed to keep five things out of everything they own. These two activities would require the students to do some deep thinking about how good they really have it in life compared to that of Andrew in the story. On the topic of hope, I would have the students journal about something that is going wrong in their lives and then write about where they find hope or where they can find hope to help them get through this difficult part of their life.