Wind Flyers

Wind Flyers

Written by Angela Johnson

Illustrated by Loren Long

Simon and Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2007

Historical Fiction

32 pages

Wind Flyers is told by a young man who had an uncle that loved flying. His uncle grew up loving the sky and wishing he could someday fly high. The young man’s uncle grew up before he knew it. However, he was finally able to fly like he had always dreamed. You see, his uncle joined the Tuskegee Airmen with the 332^nd. Then war broke out and his uncle flew to protect his country along with several other African American pilots. Will his uncle be able to survive the war? Will he ever be able to fly again? Read this eventful book to find out!

The illustrations created for this story by Loren Long are very detailed and vivid. The illustrated laid her artwork over two pages for most of her illustrations. However, a few of her illustrations are only place on one page. Loren Long used acrylic paint to create her artwork for this story. All in all, the illustrations help support the story being told within the book.

I would recommend using this book in a fourth or fifth grade class. There are a few different ways that this book can be used inside of a classroom setting. First, this book is a great way to introduce the Tuskegee Airmen in a history lesson. This book can also be read during African American History month. Then lastly, this book can be used when introducing new ways to incorporate how to write what a person says in a story. This will be done by using quotation marks and so on. Altogether, this book is a great story and can be used in a classroom environment in several different ways.