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Woodson, Jacquelin

The Year We Learned to Fly

32 pp. | Penguin/Paulsen | January, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-0-399-54553-5 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-399-54554-2 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rafael López. Woodson and López (The Day You Begin, rev. 9/18) follow a brother and sister over the course of a challenging year spent mainly indoors: "That was the year we learned to fly." In Woodson's poetic text, the children's grandmother suggests that they use their imaginations to cure their boredom: "Lift your arms, / close your eyes, / take a deep breath, / and believe in a thing." Later, when they move across town and are faced with the challenge of making new friends, their much-practiced skills help them succeed. The book reminds children that imagination is a powerful tool in any situation, and López's colorful, eye-pleasing art enhances this message. Readers also are reminded that they have support from the past: "My grandmother had learned to fly / from the people who came before / They were aunts and uncles and cousins / who were brought here on huge ships / their wrists and ankles cuffed in iron / but, my grandmother said / nobody can ever cuff / your beautiful and brilliant mind." In the accompanying art, the young girl stands with head bowed and her grandmother's hand on her shoulder. Images of ships on the sea are silhouetted against her afro, and away flies a brightly colored bird, now unshackled. In an author's note, Woodson discusses how Virginia ­Hamilton's The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales inspired her to write stories.
Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

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