Ann Can Fly: 04/23/11

Six years ago I took possession of a retired elementary school teacher's classroom library. Most of the books I've since read and donated to various local schools but one gem I've kept is Ann Can Fly by Fred Phleger.

Ann's father has taught her how to fly and now they are flying together to her summer camp in Colorado. The flight starts at Montgomery Field in San Diego. As a native San Diegan I felt an unexpected thrill at recognizing their take-off point. In fact much of their flight path covers familiar territory for me and gave me many things to talk about with my children during the book.

I read this book to Harriet at a time when she was going through a period of "girls do this" and "boys do that." It was nice to show her a positive portrayal of a girl doing something outside of her rubric. It helped her to rethink her strict cataloguing of gender roles.

Four stars.

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Sunday, April, 24, 2011 at 08:54:03

Coreena

Sounds like a great book. I know my kids get stuck in gender roles very easily, I'll have to look this up.

Comment #2: Friday, April 29, 2011 at 14:53:25

Pussreboots

I'm glad that so far my two haven't gotten that stuck on gender roles. I hope you find a copy of the book. Happy reading.