Hot+Air


 * Hot Air**

Book name: “Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of The First Hot-Air Balloon Ride Author: [|__Marjorie Priceman__] Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Pages: 40 Age range: 3-6 ISBN: 0689826427, 978-0689826429
 * Bibliographical Data: **

Marjorie A. Priceman was born in 1958 and attended the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the author and/or illustrator of over 30 children’s picture books and she is known for using bright watercolors. Two of her books have won Caldecott Honor awards.
 * Author Bibliography: **

“Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of The First Hot-Air Balloon Ride” about a duck, rooster and a sheep flying over various cities in France in one of the first hot air balloons invented by Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier in 1783. The introduction of the story gives background of the first day the hot air balloon was released. Then, we see that the animals are being used for the flight. Through the animals tale of the story, naturally they cannot speak, so there are no words used to tell the story. So, the animals tale of the story is through large, colorful, and fun pictures that depict the events that take place.
 * Summary of the book: **

I have never heard of this story until now and it definitely captured my attention. I liked how the author used animals, which kids would be able to connect with, and used them as a means to describe something that actually happened in history. The images were fun, very large, and engaging and would work in any classroom, especially for read aloud.
 * Review: **


 * Analysis of a Literary Element: **

I think that this book would be great for a read aloud in the classroom setting. This book gives students an experience of what it was like with characters, the animals that they can connect with and then it could be connected further with a history lesson on the hot air balloon for older grade levels. This book also allows for the students to explore with their imaginations because it is a picture book. Since there are little to no words, the book is almost given up to the imagination of the readers. If I were using this for a lesson, I would have my students create dialogue between the animals, extend the story and add in humans with the animals in the balloon, or even change the story to one animals point of view. Because this book is so open ended it allows for anything to happen or allow anyone to add in his or her own ideas.