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  • The Hallelujah Flight
  • Elizabeth Bush
Bildner, Phil. The Hallelujah Flight; illus. by John Holyfield. Putnam, 2010 [32p]. ISBN 978-0-399-24789-7 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R 5-8 yrs

A transcontinental flight in a rickety biplane is no mean feat, but to achieve it as an African-American with no sponsorship during the Great Depression is a minor miracle. Bildner retraces, in this fictionalized picture-book account, the 1932 flight by James Banning and mechanic Thomas Allen from Los Angeles to Long Island—quite literally on a wing (well, two wings) and a Hallelujah prayer. With no funding to keep their "flying jalopy" in gas and parts, Banning appealed to spectators anxious to swap needed material for the honor of signing the wings and vicariously taking to the sky. Audiences follow the aviators' adventures, from stripping down to their underwear in an overheated plane to dropping out of the sky for victuals with family in Oklahoma. Holyfield's acrylic paintings, with their luminous touches of sun and moonlight and the texture of exposed canvas, play for the tone of a tall-tale legend as the lanky figures of Banning and Allen take on every challenge with cool aplomb; however, the raw anger of prejudiced townsfolk who drive them off without supplies and the joyous pride of the Harlem community that fêted their accomplishment ground the event in reality. Partner this with the Provensen's The Glorious Flight (BCCB 1/84) and Don Brown's Ruth Law Thrills a Nation (BCCB 12/93) for a soaring storytime.

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