The Airplane Ride.

In this delightful picture book we meet Mikey, who is taking his first flight, which will transport him across Canada to visit his grandparents.

It is through his eyes, as he clutches his toy bunny Boo, that we experience the views of the Rocky Mountains, the Prairies, and the Great Lakes. We also get a glimpse of how he perceives arriving at the Vancouver airport, the busy-ness inside the plane as people find their seats, the takeoff, the airplane meal, the nighttime segment of the flight, and the final joyous reunion with his Gram and Gramps.

The narrative is told in verse, which suits the age of the protagonist and readers. For example, as we see the illustration of Mikey, with startled eyes, looking through the window, we read: “The plane is like a bus inside / Until they start their bumpy ride. / Then with a roaring sound / They rise up off the ground”

The watercolour illustrations by well-known artist Greta Guzek are a delightful complement to the text, reflecting accurately and with charming detail the content of the rhyming narrative.

This will be a popular one-on-one read-aloud for a child with an adult and will also be great for storytime, or excellent preparation for a child’s first experience of air travel. It will also help meet the demand in public libraries from myriad children who ask for books depicting various modes of transportation. Recommended.