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A review by katykelly
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois
5.0
Shades of Gulliver’s Travels and Utopia.
A find! This did feel like a 'junior' Gulliver at times, a similar style of 'fictional travel writing' and a story with definite lessons in it.
Professor William Waterman Sherman, maths teacher, has been picked up and returned to his home country, found in the ocean in a broken balloon, and refusing to tell his story until he can tell his Explorers Club in San Francisco. Tension and expectation rise across America until he can finally speak of his adventures.
And they are worth the wait. His construction of a liveable balloon home, his voyage over the seas and the accidental discovery of an island with many hidden, fantastical secrets. With a bit of Robinson Crusoe-like invention thrown in, there's a short but very enjoyable explorer tale here that hasn't dated badly at all, it's not a hard read.
I love the author's own illustrations too, with plans and diagrams, very beautiful to look at.
I did have a few qualms as I read - how does one fish when you are moving at high speed across the sea? And why does three days of waste (from food) make the balloon rise in the sky - this is the late 1800s... what waste can there possibly be that weighs that much?! There's also an illustration showing people in bed covered by blankets just after the Professor has mentioned that nobody uses blankets as they are near the Equator.
But that aside, small potatoes. Loved this. An old-fashioned but still easily readable and enjoyable, inventive adventure story.
For ages 8-12.
A find! This did feel like a 'junior' Gulliver at times, a similar style of 'fictional travel writing' and a story with definite lessons in it.
Professor William Waterman Sherman, maths teacher, has been picked up and returned to his home country, found in the ocean in a broken balloon, and refusing to tell his story until he can tell his Explorers Club in San Francisco. Tension and expectation rise across America until he can finally speak of his adventures.
And they are worth the wait. His construction of a liveable balloon home, his voyage over the seas and the accidental discovery of an island with many hidden, fantastical secrets. With a bit of Robinson Crusoe-like invention thrown in, there's a short but very enjoyable explorer tale here that hasn't dated badly at all, it's not a hard read.
I love the author's own illustrations too, with plans and diagrams, very beautiful to look at.
I did have a few qualms as I read - how does one fish when you are moving at high speed across the sea? And why does three days of waste (from food) make the balloon rise in the sky - this is the late 1800s... what waste can there possibly be that weighs that much?! There's also an illustration showing people in bed covered by blankets just after the Professor has mentioned that nobody uses blankets as they are near the Equator.
But that aside, small potatoes. Loved this. An old-fashioned but still easily readable and enjoyable, inventive adventure story.
For ages 8-12.