Hot Air by Marjorie Priceman

2nd grade and up

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the illustrations in this Caldecott Honor book – it seemed like it was going to be one of those artsy, high-brow books that pretend to be children’s books but are actually no fun at all. The first few pages are full of kings and ambassadors and important people standing around looking important as they attend the social event surrounding the first hot-air balloon ride. But at the first sight of the passengers – a duck, a sheep, and a rooster – all my fears were calmed. The looks on these poor, hapless creatures’ faces when they realize they’ve been duped into leaving solid earth immediately indicate that the book is going in an altogether different and hilarious direction.

One of my first thoughts on entering the “meat” of the story was how interesting that the illustrations on several of the pages are very like the frames in a graphic novel. I imagine this subdivision of the action helped give me the impression a superhero team facing impossible odds – except this team is far from super-powered. They are more like the Three Stooges or characters out of Looney Tunes than any DC heroes, with one turn of bad luck after another. They get tangled in clothes lines, drift toward sharp spires, encounter a directionally challenged flock of birds, and all the while, must unite to keep each other safe. There’s something appealing to me about that concept as I sit through boring classes or help difficult patrons at the library. We are all in the basket together, as they say, so maybe if we work together, we can get through it all.