Fly Away Home By Eve Bunting

This "controversial" book made me feel really bad for the boy and his father. I am used to reading really positive and upbeat children's book, but this one had a different message. The cover shows the father and son sitting in an airport terminal. The two people look really sad and lonely in the illustration. I really liked the illustrations because they showed a lot of important facial details and the colors were appropriate. The emotions were not cheerful so the colors remained dull like the characters feelings. They remained upbeat about life, especially the ending because he saw a similarity to the bird that eventually escaped the airport. I like how the endpaper was plain white with no extra images drawn on them. It gives the book a serious and more mature feeling to it. I can see this book as being really controversial for parents that do not want to teach their children about how it is for struggling parents. They want to teach there kids to be responsible and have a job. Being homeless is not the ideal situation for anyone, and teaching kids how to live in an airport is not something adults want children to know. I think that it is a good idea for children to read books that are diverse and teach about different ways of living. I feel that this book does open the door to conversations that are important to have with your children. I do not think that this is the type of book I would keep in my classroom. I think that it is something that parents should have at home and read with their child.