The Great Valentine's Day Balloon Race
by Adrienne Adams
Date: 1980
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: Open Library
Bonnie and Orson, two young rabbits, build a hot air balloon to enter in a St. Valentine's Day balloon race.
(see it on Goodreads)
We're edging toward the middle of February, so I wanted to read some Valentine's Day books. This book kind of fails in that regard, but it's so charming that I really enjoyed it anyway.
Orson Abbott (a rabbit) gets it into his head to enter a Valentine's Day hot-air balloon race. There's just one problem: he doesn't have a balloon. So he enlists the help of his friend Bonnie (because she's very smart) and together with the help of Orson's parents they build a working hot-air balloon. During the race, the two young rabbits also use their smarts to rise above the rest (pun intended) and win the race.
While this has little to do with Valentine's Day, it's a great book if you want to learn about how hot-air balloons work. Seriously, for a fictional picture book, it's very informative. The rabbits don't always get things right on the first try, so there's a learning curve involved for them--and the reader.
The writing is simple, yet strong (and free of the grammar errors that seem to be trends in many of today's picture books). The illustrations are charmingly dated; Orson and Bonnie in their turtlenecks and skinny jeans look like they just stepped out of the late '70s (and, in fact, the book was published way back in 1980). But the story feels surprisingly modern in spite of this. There's really no reason today's kids couldn't read and enjoy this lovely book.
Quotable moment:
Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5
Overall: 4 out of 5
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