Flight of the Dodo: Reach For the Sky!

Like many of the books we get from the library, we were not looking for Flight of the Dodo when we found it. But it was on display, and had a catchy title, so we picked it up and added it to the stack.

Flight of the Dodo is a picture book written and illustrated by Peter Brown. It is a story about fulfilling for dreams and reaching for the sky- both literally and figuratively.

As the story begins, our intrepid protagonist Penguin is going for a walk. Almost immediately, a goose poops on Penguin’s jacket. The narrative indicates that this is the difference between the Flappers and the Waddlers.

Penguin gathers his friends Ostrich, Kiwi, and Cassowary, who are all Waddlers as well. Penguin tells them that it is high time that the Waddlers learned to fly- after all, they are birds too, aren’t they?

After a few failed attempts, the Waddlers construct a hot air balloon. They call it the Dodo. They fly away in the ship and get to experience all the things that they could not do as waddlers, like tasting clouds and target pooping.

When Penguin sees a flock of geese, he tries to fly over them. The Waddlers get caught in a storm, but luckily, they are rescued by the geese. The Flappers teach the Waddlers about flying conditions, and Penguin advises the geese that they should look before they go to the bathroom.

This book has such a great message about following your dreams. Penguin and his friends choose to break free of their biological limitations and ask big questions- why do they have to be flightless birds? Can they change their destinies?

I would like to point out that this book has several scenes involving poop. I know there are many people who might have a poop-is-not-funny knee jerk reaction. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of scatalogical humor, but I don't think the frequent pooping in this book is done for the humor value. In my opinion, it's more a case of [poop] happens. Birds poop on people. It happens all the time. It's a biological function. And for what it's worth, there was nary a giggle from the peanut gallery during any of the pooping scenes.

The illustrations are very well done and detailed. They are very crisp and clear. A lot of the humor comes from the illustrations- when Penguin addresses his Waddler bretheren, he uses a bullhorn- too funny! Also, the Waddlers all don flight goggles and leather helmets before embarking on their flight. We also liked the scenes that showed the failed attempts to get the Waddlers to fly.

This is a great book for kids who like birds. While the book doesn't really focus on flying birds, we get to see four different kinds of flightless birds, a rather curious anamoly of nature. While the penguin and ostrich are quite commonly known, it was fun to learn more about the kiwi and the cassowary.

I would highly recommend this book for children ages 4-8. It is cute and quirky, and features important lessons such as following your dreams and cooperation.