Fly Free!

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About Fly

Product Description When you do a good deed, it will come back to you. Mai loves feeding the caged birds near the temple but dreams that one day she'll see them fly free. Then she meets Thu and shares the joy of feeding the birds with her. This sets a chain of good deeds in motion that radiates throughout her village and beyond. Set in Vietnam, Roseanne Thong's inspiring story, an Asian-Pacific American Librarians Association Honor Book, is elegantly illustrated with watercolor on wood by Eujin Kim Neilan. From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 3—A Vietnamese girl feeds caged birds outside a Buddhist temple, beginning a cycle of good deeds continued by the townspeople, including a girl who gives away her red-velvet shoes, before circling back to the birds. Although written to illustrate the Buddhist philosophy of karma, the lesson of this simple story, that helping others is helpful to you, is universal. The muted and warm watercolor-on-board illustrations glow with gold, orange, red, and brown tones, although the girls' unnaturally pink cheeks and lips give them a jarringly clownish look. One of the characters is a monk but the only explicit religious message is found in an author's note that explains karma, nirvana, and samsara (the wheel of life). The arresting cover illustration of a child holding her hands in the air as birds fly into the distance foreshadows the story's conclusion. That dramatic image will immediately engage readers in wondering how the birds will be freed. The slight story serves primarily as a framework for the lesson but the approach is gentle and nonjudgmental.— Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Mai regularly visits the caged sparrows outside a Buddhist temple in Vietnam. She wishes to free the birds—releasing them after a payment is a good deed and the Buddhist way— but she cannot afford to do so. Instead, she invites Thu to join her in feeding them, whispering Fly free, fly free in the sky so blue. When you do a good deed it will come back to you. Thu, in turn, repeats the mantra when she gives her red velvet slippers to a girl with a foot injury. The injured girl acts kindly to another, and the chain of compassionate actions eventually leads a stranger to pay for the sparrows’ release. When the birds fly free and Mai exclaims, Fly free, fly free . . . , children will complete the refrain. The succinct, restrained parable introduces Buddhist ideas and a moral viewpoint that transcends religion. Sunny, serene watercolor illustrations match the gentle tone and message. A solid choice for multicultural units, this also demonstrates the value of kindness. Preschool-Grade 3. --Linda Perkins Review "A solid choice for multicultural units, this also demonstrates the value of kindness." -- Booklist * "A perfect jewel. . . . A picture book of rare beauty in both story and artwork." -- Library Media Connection, starred review About the Author Roseanne Thong is the award-winning author of many children's books, including Wish, Red Is a Dragon, and Round is a Mooncake. She lives in Southern California. Eujin Kim Neilan is the illustrator of Imagine a Dragon by Laurence Pringle. The Best Winds by Laura E. Williams, and The Rabbit and the Dragon King and In the Moonlight Mist: A Korean Tale, both retold by Daniel San Souci. Born in Korea, she lives in Natick, Massachusetts.