Touch the Earth (A Julian Lennon White Feather Flier Adventure #1)
by Julian Lennon & Bart Davis
illustrated by Smiljana Coh
Date: 2017
Publisher: Sky Pony
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library
A New York Times bestseller that TODAY calls “beautiful” and “stunning!”
This interactive book immerses children in a fun and unique journey. Jump aboard the White Feather Flier, a magical plane that can go wherever you want!
Just press a button printed on the page, and point the plane up in the air to fly, or down to land it!
Fly to the top of a mountain!
Send clean water to thirsty people!
Dive deep into the ocean (the Flier turns into a submarine!) to pick up pollution and bring back the fish!
Explore the planet, meet new people, and help make the world a better place!
The Flier's mission is to transport readers around the world, to engage them in helping to save the environment, and to teach one and all to love our planet.
An inspiring, lyrical story, rooted in Lennon's life and work, Touch the Earth is filled with beautiful illustrations that bring the faraway world closer to young children. The book includes words to a special poem written by Julian Lennon, specifically for Touch the Earth.
This is the first book in a planned trilogy. A portion of the proceeds from book sales will go to support the environmental and humanitarian efforts of the White Feather Foundation, the global environmental and humanitarian organization that Lennon founded to promote education, health, conservation, and the protection of indigenous culture.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
This is pretty underwhelming.
I've read a number of "interactive" picture books before. Unlike most of the others, this one is about serious topics... and, as such, it kind of feels a bit like lying to kids. The book instructs them to do things like touch the plastic bottles to clean up the oceans and bring back the fish, or drop water purification systems so people can have clean drinking water... and then tells them they did a good job. What? What, exactly, did they do? (Yes, a portion of the proceeds from the book goes to charitable causes, but that's a lot more indirect than telling children that pressing an icon on a page in their book helped irrigate a desert.)
I can see that this is a very personal project for Lennon, and the white feather has great significance to him (this is explained in the author's note at the back). But turning the feather into a gimmick of a plane that magically travels the world and fixes all our environmental woes just seems a little simple and bordering on dishonest. There's such a thing as fantasy, and that's fine. I guess I just don't like how this book implies that kids are having a direct hand in making a difference by sitting in their own homes and swinging a picture book around in the air.
Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5
Overall: 2 out of 5
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