Reviews

• パパの夢

  主人公のBleriotさんは5人の子持ちのパパ。ある日、家族みんなでドライブ中に、空を飛ぶ物体を目撃。初めて飛行船を見たパパはすっかりとりこになり"I, too, will build a flying machine"と宣言。パパの試行錯誤が始まります。 巻末に注釈があるのですが、Louis Bleriot氏は実在した人物で、自動車のヘッドライトの発明で築いた富を利用して、飛行機の改良に取り組み、飛行機の発展に貢献した人物だそうです。 英文の量は、3,4行×30程度。 1984年の第47回 Caldecotto賞受賞作品です。

• My children and I have read this book over and over again. Lovely to look at and the Main character has stayed in our family convos for years.

• all perfect, shipping fast and good, good book The pack is ok and the service good. thank you very much

• This book was purchased for my youngest son, who is only 3, but has a fascination with flying the Channel. He had seen a picture of Louis Bleriot in another book and never missed a chance to point him out as the first man to fly across the English Channel. I wasn't sure if this book would really be suitable for a 3 year old, but I reasoned my 7 year old could use at as well, especially since we are studying famous flyers. I also felt that even if the book were too advanced - he would grow into it. When it arrive though, I was very pleasantly surprised. This book is really suitable for a wide age range, and it has so many different facets to it. Bleriot was not just a pilot - he was also an inventor, and built not only the Bleriot XI aircraft in which he made his successful crossing - but 10 previous models that were not nearly so successful. It all began when Mr Bleriot was out for for a drive in his shiny new motor car. A strange sound from the sky drew his attention from the road, and he ended up in an accident with a cart load of cabbages. But even the sight of the accident can not keep his attention from the sky - where he sees his first glimpse of a flying machine - an airship. It appears Mr Bleriot is quite wealthy, ( he had invented the 1st working automobile headlamp )so he was able to pay the cart owner and everyone left happy. Bleriot, however was obsessed by the flying machine and could not rest until he would be able to take to the skies himself. Bleriot is nothing if not determined and one disaster after another, including bumps bruises and broken bones does nothing to put him off. He keeps building ( and crashing) one air plane after another, until at last he gets it right - Bleriot VII at last reaches into the skies, but more improvements and new machines will be made before he can attempt the challenge of flying across the channel. A prize of £1,000 offered by the Daily Mail is just the added incentive he needs. My sons both enjoyed this, as they do like airplanes. The youngest did especially like the part where the plane flies over the Channel. But they also liked all the mishaps, and this is a funny enough story to interest a child with little or no interest in airplanes. As much as he loved the pages with flight, he enjoyed the crash with the cabbage truck just as much. They also liked poor Bleriot's misfortunes and frequent accidents. The illustrations are old fashioned, but my sons still enjoyed them. The pictures are painted - and do look very French to my eyes. There is a large amount of use of brown, but it comes off quite nicely, and they do convey the sense of another place and time. The aircraft are shown with good detail, and to do look like the pictures I have seen of them in other books. The plane looks quite small and light - even fragile, which in fact it would have been. In addition to being a good story that as fun to read, this book fits in perfectly with our study of famous aviators. It also fits in very nicely with a study of inventors and inventions. It shows that great inventions were not always instant successes. Many times there were years of hard work and failure before success, and only courage and determination saw the inventors through. Of course if they had failed we might just call them daft - but innovation does not come easily - it requires hard graft. This book can even be used to teach some rudimentary geography. We are learning about pilots from different countries, so we looked up France on the globe when reading this, and of course the channel. With one book we were able to combine; the history of aviation, inventors and inventions, science and technology, geography and famous lives, and as if that were not enough, we have a lovely bedtime story as well. I would recommend this book for ages 4-8 in general, to be stretched to both older and younger children with an interest in flight. This is perfect for the family bookshelf - but equally perfect for the classroom or home educator.

• I used this as part of our topic on WW1 at school with 5 & 6 year olds. We used it to find out about aeroplanes prior to the start of WW1. They loved it & were really inspired by the story - not to give up when things don't quite work out to plan. Great book. I love the old fashioned illustrations.

• I first read this book when I was 6 years old and never stopped thinking about flying. Today I now have a commercial pilot license and over 300 hours of flight time. If you want the next generation to fall in love with aviation this I absolutely recommend.

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