Flyaway

Flyaway is a really touching book. It make you feel like you really can fly away with the birds or in other words the "swans". When you read it you will LOVE it for i think its pretty good.

Death, illness and loss are prominent themes in this beautifully told story of Isla, Harry, and a wild swan, but the book is never maudlin and almost always sustains hope. While Isla and her father are watching the spring return of the Whooper Swans to their English (?) neighborhood, they are

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horrified to see several electrocuted by a new and unmarked power station. Isla's grandfather, a former vet, is unable to save one injured swan. He is still recovering from the death of his wife to an infection in hospital and has become bitter and estranged from his son, Isla's father. On a second birding outing, Isla's father is stricken by heart trouble and Isla must face his possible death. At the hospital, Isla meets Harry, a boy her age (13) who has leukemia and will die without a bone marrow transplant. It is nature that helps to heal them all. Isla finds a young swan alone near the hospital and knows she is a survivor of the flock she saw earlier. The swan approaches her, even touches her, which is very unusual for a wild bird. She befriends Isla as Harry watches from his window. Isla wants to help the swan for her own sake, but also for her father's, who loves birds, and is sustained by her stories of the swan. Her dream sequences are mystical and infuse the tale with a mythical essence. Isla's grandfather helps her make a flying machine with a set of old mute swan wings for a school project. All the work done for the swan heals the people. Isla gains confidence in herself and her love for the outdoors. An honest, triumphant blending of the frailty of humans and the strength of the natural world.

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After reading Lucy Christopher’s book Stolen, I knew I had to read the rest of what she wrote as well. I was not disappointed by the next book I chose by her. Flyaway is a touching, uplifting, and all around wonderful story.

A young girl - Isla (pronounced like eye-lah) - narrates this story that

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begins with her and her father going out early in the morning - like they do every year - to watch the whooping swans when they return to the nearby wetlands preserve, marking the start of winter. But this year is different: newly constructed power lines injure the front line of the swans and drive the rest away. It looks like one young female is disoriented and gets left behind by those swans able to change direction and avoid the wires, but Isla and her dad have to leave before they can check on her fate.

The next weekend, Isla’s dad insists they go out again and try to find what happened to the swans, but on the path to the preserve her dad falls over with a heart attack. Isla, upset and scared, still manages to run back for the phone and get emergency help for her dad. He is transported to the hospital, and it is touch-and-go for him as he waits for a heart operation.

Meanwhile, Isla makes friends with a patient who is about her age, named Harry. He has leukemia, and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant. The two discover that by looking out Harry’s window, they can see a young female swan on the lake, and Isla thinks she is the one that got separated from the flock the day the whoopers arrived at the preserve. She goes out to see her and the swan is not afraid of Isla, and amazingly, becomes attached to her. She even imitates Isla’s behavior, but does not seem to know how to fly back to the rest of her flock.

With the help of her grandfather, Isla constructs swan wings that she can wear to teach her swan how to fly, reporting on her progress to both her father and to Harry. As the book approaches its denoument, readers have three “patients” about whom to worry: Isla’s much-loved dad, the infectiously optimistic Harry, and the faithful and intrepid swan.

Evaluation: This book intended for a middle grade audience is enchanting. Christopher takes unusual and interesting circumstances and explains the characters’ reactions to them with everyday impressions and feelings that combine to capture the imagination and pull us into the story. Moreover, all of the characters are absolutely endearing, but each in a quite different way.

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Is it wrong to say Ms Christopher is my new favourite author after only two books? This is great, really great. I usually hate imagery in books, I'm more of a dialogue kind of person, but she makes me love imagery. Whether its a desert or a swan in a lake, she makes it beautiful.

Sweet and sad book, but worth the read.

This is only Lucy Christopher's second novel and is completely different to her first, "Stolen." It is a touching story about 13 year-old Isla who develops an unusual connection to a lone swan whilst visiting her sick father in hospital. Isla is a warm-hearted, caring protagonist who makes friends

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with Harry, a boy her own age waiting for a bone marrow transplant. The relationship they gradually develop is sweet and innocent, in fact the whole book resonates with a gentle charm from a by-gone era. Despite the hardships and fears that Isla and her family have to face, "Flyaway" is a book about the power of love and hope. A beautifully written story for younger readers.

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