Flight School by Lita Judge (review)

Little Penguin believes he was born to fly, so he ditches Antarctica for a furthernorth avian flight school run by a heron-like teacher; unfortunately, even after weeks of lessons, he’s still a lead balloon when it comes to getting airborne. His flight school pals have an idea, though, and wrap his wings with feathers attached with some fishing line. Penguin flaps and sure enough, he takes flight—with the help of a flamingo, who has grabbed the fishing line and is towing the overjoyed Penguin through the air (“Penguin was right. He did have the soul of an eagle. He’d just needed help with the technical parts”). Penguin leaves content and soon returns—with an ostrich who also wants to fly. Judge writes with a simple clarity that avoids any preachiness, and the streamlined emotion will resonate with young listeners: “Penguin was too brokenhearted to even wave good-bye. His teachers didn’t know what to do.” The watercolor and pencil illustrations are warm, robust, and thoughtfully composed, many positioned against a simple sunlit backdrop, with the tall flamingo frequently only partially seen due to its height. Penguin is a charmingly tubby and stout guy, and the skillful positioning of his red flight goggles visually convey his emotions: when he’s happy, the earpieces flip up jauntily, and when he’s sad, they dejectedly droop. This could be a useful tool for many kinds of discussions—from the adaptations that some kids need in a classroom, to creative problem solving, to perseverance—or a cheerful addition to a unit or story hour about birds or penguins.