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Taylor, Theodore.
THE BOY WHO COULD FLY WITHOUT A MOTOR
Orlando : Harcourt, 2004.
IL 3-6, RL 5.9
ISBN 0152047670

(2 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Jon is lonely.  There isn't much for a boy to do in 1935.  At least not for a boy who lives in a lighthouse with his parents.  There's no tv or computers or any of the modern electronics we rely on.  No, Jon has a radio and can catch some programs and he has books to read.  But he doesn't have anyone to play with or talk with.  He longs to be able to fly so he can fly to town and play with other children.  Night and night he prays for the ability to fly.  But what happens when your wishes come true?

Booktalk #2

When you think about soaring through the air, you usually think of planes or maybe rockets …but wouldn’t you like to try flying under your own power?  Your brain power?  Wouldn’t that be fantastic?  Well, Jon Jeffers learns how to fly by harnassing the power of his billions of brain cells.

                    [READ EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK]
                       Rise, Jon, he commanded silently, and came off the bed, taking a flight line for the open window.  There were no mosquitoes or flies on Clementine, so none of the windows were screened.  He went through as easily as a pigeon winging under an arch.
                       The night breeze flapped the legs of his pajamas and ruffled his hair as he circled over the grassy top of Clementine, keeping low at first, about four feet off the ground, then gaining altitude to ten.  Jon couldn't help but grin wildly. He'd never felt so happy.
                    [END EXCERPT]

                    So, why does Jon end up in the custody of the FBI, having a meeting with President Roosevelt and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover?  And will famous brain surgeon Dr. Buxtehede have to operate on Jon’s brain? Read THE BOY WHO COULD FLY WITHOUT A MOTOR by Theodore Taylor to find out.  (Melissa Henderson, mhenders@eapl.org, Ela Area Public Library, Lake Zurich, IL)

SUBJECTS:     Flight -- Fiction.
                        Magicians -- Fiction.
                        Loneliness -- Fiction.

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