Paper Planes

by Jim Helmore (Author) Richard Jones (Illustrator)

Paper Planes
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Mia and Ben are the very best of friends. They live side by side at the edge of a great, wide lake and together they sail, and swing, and sing. But the thing they love the most is making paper planes. They dream of one day being able to make a plane that will fly all the way across the lake, and their planes become more and more intricate.

But one day: terrible news. Ben's family is moving far, far away. How can Mia and Ben stay best friends if they are so far apart? And how will they ever realize their dream of making a plane that can fly across their lake?

Jim Helmore's moving, lyrical story blends with Richard Jones' captivating art for a sensitive exploration of emotions surrounding friendship, connection, and loss. Ideal for social emotional learning collections and for children experiencing separation issues.

"Helmore's spare, expressive text gives the children's close friendship the respect it deserves in this heartfelt story of love, separation, and reconnection." --Booklist

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$17.99

Booklist

Helmore's spare, expressive text gives the children's close friendship the respect it deserves in this heartfelt story of love, separation, and reconnection....handsome illustrations... A quiet, comforting picture book that will resonate with its audience.

Publishers Weekly

Mia and Ben, best friends who live "side by side on the edge of a great, wide lake," do just about everything together-- sailing, swinging, and, best of all, making paper planes. The children, large-headed and doll-like in softly brushed paintings by Jones, are shown playing joyfully in an idyllic community rich with leafy trees and rolling hills. When Ben moves "to a new home, a long way away," the friends are devastated, and Mia in particular struggles to cope ("Hot tears fell from her eyes"). Helmore modulates emotions well as the girl's loneliness turns to resentment: "Mia took the plane Ben had given her and smashed it on the ground./ She went to bed, feeling hurt and angry." A nighttime fancy--in which Mia and Ben fly in each other's planes above the lake ("They swooped/ and skimmed/ and soared")--and a special package lead to a satisfying resolution, proving that distance need not ruin a strong friendship. Expansive and warm with emotion, Jones's illustrations lend dreamy poignancy to Helmore's straightforward prose. A familiar childhood challenge surmounted with well-pitched emotional resonance from the creators of The Snow Lion. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2--Two friends learn how to continue their friendship after one of them moves away. Mia, a dark-skinned girl, and Ben, a white boy, are best friends whose favorite activity is making planes. In winter, they race their creations with the geese. In summer, they fly them from atop hills. Their goal is to build a plane strong enough to "fly across the lake." But one day, Ben announces his family is moving, and after exchanging planes, the two friends part. In sadness and frustration, Mia smashes Ben's gift. That evening, she dreams she is flying in the repaired, greatly enlarged plane. She sees Ben flying toward her and together they "swooped, and skimmed, and soared" in the sky. The next morning a package containing a wingless plane arrives from Ben. He asks Mia to construct the wings, and when it's ready for flight, it soars higher than any plane Ben and Mia have "ever made before." The illustrations, executed in paint and edited in Photoshop on different colored backgrounds, depict the friends and an ever-present dog in muted hues. VERDICT Pair this story with Libby Gleeson's Half a World Away for group sharing about ways to deal with separation and other disappointments.--Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Jim Helmore
Jim Helmore has written several picture books. He works in the licensing industry and loves to grow vegetables in his spare time. He lives in England.

Richard Jones grew up in Leamington Spa before moving down to Devon to study illustration at the University of Plymouth in Exeter and never went home again! After finishing his degree, he stayed on to complete a PhD. While working on his thesis he got a "temporary job" in Exeter's Central Library and somehow found himself working there for more than ten years. When not at his desk he enjoys bobbing about in the sea, swimming in rivers, walking in woods, listening to audiobooks on the bus, and petting the cat. He now works full time as an author and illustrator.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781682631614
Lexile Measure
580
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Peachtree Publishers
Publication date
March 20, 2020
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV039050 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emotions & Feelings
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Separation (Psychology)
Moving, Household
Best friends
Paper airplanes

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