The Fabulous Flight

By Robert Lawson

Book Overview

" C]hildren are going to be charmed ... only such a good fantasy writer as Lawson could write about his adventures so plausibly ... And the author's pictures get better and better as the story progresses." -- Kirkus Reviews
" Lawson's books] will live for generations." -- The Horn Book
Peter Pepperell abruptly stopped growing at the age of 7, after which he started getting smaller. But while his body became tinier, his mind got bigger and so did his sense of adventure. When he learns of an overseas madman who's threatening the world with a compact but powerfully destructive weapon, the 4-inch-high boy climbs on the back of a friendly seagull and heads for Europe to disarm the evil scientist -- and to do a little sightseeing along the way.
Author Robert Lawson was awarded both the Newbery and Caldecott medals for his writing and illustrating, and his images for The Fabulous Flight add mightily to the story's whimsical delights. Long out of circulation, this book is back in print and ready to delight a new generation of young readers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486823326
• ISBN13: 9780486823324
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

A very small boy saves the world

This is perhaps my favorite Lawson fantasy and one that begs to be returned to print. As a result of an accident, young Peter P. Pepperell III ceases to grow at the age of seven, and actually begins to shrink, while getting brighter all the time. By the age of 12 he's reached literal pocket-size. His father, who works in the State Department, is delighted because Peter can now help him with his "work"--an elaborate model-train layout; his mother is disappointed at first, having always hoped that Peter would grow to be six feet plus and become a Colonel or a General like her brothers, but her husband points out that regardless of his height he might have only become a Major, a rank Mrs. Pepperell particularly loathes. Tutored at home, Peter befriends the local animals, who welcome him now that he's more their size. One day a visiting seagull, Sam, alights on the family pond, and Peter discovers the delights of flight astride his neck. Then Mr. Pepperell comes home with distressing news. A reclusive scientist in a tiny middle-European nation has invented an explosive even more fearsome than The Bomb, and the State Department desperately wants to get it away from him. As it turns out, Peter and Sam are ideally suited to the task. Mr. Pepperell crafts a fiberglass "car" that can fit on Sam's back, providing a place for Peter to sleep and keep his supplies, and the pair set off on a fabulous flight indeed. Peter and Sam are characters any kid will love, and they play off each other perfectly. Sam's slangy speech and blue-collar outlook on Europe's wonders are particularly delightful. And when they reach their goal, a surprising twist occurs that makes their mission at once easier and more difficult than they had anticipated. Humor and excitement abound in this wonderfully imaginitive book, and its rarity is a crime.