Title: Taking Flight
Author: Elizabeth Melott
Publisher: Brilliant Books Literary
ISBN: 978-1647011505
Pages: 30
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Learning to fly is not an easy task, whether you are an airplane pilot, a bird, an insect – or even a dragon! Author Elizabeth Melott takes readers into a fanciful world of fire-breathing dragons, living in their dragon-society of going to school, socializing, and of course, learning to fly, in her creative book titled Taking Flight.
Here, readers are introduced to a group of dragons with very clever names: there is the protagonist, Icy – a shy, quiet dragon; her best friend Poinsettia; their teacher Ms. Current; and others Flame, Torch, and Nero. Icy didn’t know how to fly, and was very apprehensive to take that leap off of the cliff – but with encouragement from others telling her “She is not going to fail,” – off she goes, only to lose altitude, flutter and fall. Torch even bullying her gave her a blast of fiery-breath, scorching her feathers as Icy landed on the ground, broken hearted. Scared, hurt and lost, she curled up to a big tree thinking how is she ever going to fly – especially now since she is injured.
A boy dragon, Dusk, along with his friends told Icy she has the power to fly, and provided confidence and advice. Dusk said to Icy, “I’ve told you before and I will tell you again, you are who you are. You don’t need to change or be afraid of anyone.” With that bit of encouragement and a dose of goodwill, yes, Icy flew into the sky, being the happiest she ever was and having this tale end in high spirits.
The moral is timeless and simple – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. This applies to not only dragons, but to all of the children reading this imaginative story. Having children see the fact that everyone needs to keep trying to do what they need to do, even if you are a fire-breathing dragon – obstacles needed to be overcome will be beaten.
Elizabeth Melott has created a book which has many good themes and messages including friendship, confidence, tenacity and accomplishment. All of these traits are embedded into Taking Flight, which will lift the spirits of youngsters off the ground when reading this artfully illustrated story.
