The Year We Learned to Fly

Summary

Two bored siblings think to their grandmother’s advice; to use their beautiful and brilliant minds to stay occupied. The siblings realized they could imagine a different world, a happy and better one. Throughout the story, they refer back to their grandma’s words, including how their ancestors used their imaginations to escape their lives. This inspirational book encourages students to use their imagination when things are not going their way and create a better world they can fly away to.

Theme(s):

Resilience, Self-Regulation, Family

Personal Response

This book can inspire children when they are having a bad day and lets them know that others have experienced the same feelings they are having. This book is lyrical and has beautiful illustrations to accompany it. I connected to this book because I remember playing with my siblings when we were children, I can still remember how we imagined so many scenarios right in our backyard. We got lost in our imaginations and those are some of the best memories I have of my childhood.

Teaching Ideas

Teachers can use this book in the classroom is by having students complete a writing assignment about how they cope with boredom. This could be a quick write response, or a formal writing task. This book could also be used when teaching summary writing and visualization. After reading, students could write a summary and then draw a picture of a scene they visualized when reading. This can be used in different grade levels and be adapted to be more age appropriate.

BOOK.tique