Author(s): Colin Thompson

Situation books - children

'The first time Sally flew was before she could even crawl. As her parents slept, she floated above them, too young to speak too young to think in words.' Sally is just a baby when she first begins to soar above her house and over the garden. Soon she sees her brother and other children floating over the rooftops. But her mother is sceptical. 'You and your ridiculous stories,' she says. 'It's time you came down to earth.' Only her grandmother believes her and every night Sally returns from another far off journey with a special present for the old lady - a butterfly, an opal, an orchid. She recalls her own travels when she was a little girl and explains that everyone has the power to fly, 'only they've forgotten how. It's called growing up.' Sally and her grandmother fly off together to a land of warm sunshine and lagoons, and as grandmother dreams of her favourite place, she draws her last breath and stays there forever. But Sally never forgets her dreams and when she has children of her own, she flies with them - to the Aztec ruins, to fields of snow and finally to the golden beach by the clear lagoon.With his intricately detailed illustrations and moving text, Colin Thompson takes the reader on a journey they will never forget.