≡ [PDF] Free The Art of Flying A Novel Judy Hoffman Stephanie Graegin 9781423158158 Books

The Art of Flying A Novel Judy Hoffman Stephanie Graegin 9781423158158 Books

Download As PDF : The Art of Flying A Novel Judy Hoffman Stephanie Graegin 9781423158158 Books

The Art of Flying A Novel Judy Hoffman Stephanie Graegin 9781423158158 Books

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Tags : The Art of Flying: A Novel [Judy Hoffman, Stephanie Graegin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <I style= mso-bidi-font-style: normal >Fortuna Dalliance is practical. Rational. Clever. But when she finds herself at the doorstep of an adventure,Judy Hoffman, Stephanie Graegin,The Art of Flying: A Novel,Disney-Hyperion,1423158156,Magic;Fiction.,Metamorphosis;Fiction.,Witchcraft;Fiction.,Animals - Birds,CHILDREN'S FICTION FANTASY,Children's BooksAges 9-12 Fiction,Children: Grades 2-3,Easy Fiction,Fantasy & Magic,Fiction,Fiction-Fantasy,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Fiction Animals Birds,Juvenile Fiction Fantasy & Magic,Juvenile Fiction Social Issues Friendship,Juvenile Fiction Social Themes Friendship,Juvenile Grades 2-3 Ages 7-8,Magic,Metamorphosis,Social Issues - Friendship,Witchcraft

The Art of Flying A Novel Judy Hoffman Stephanie Graegin 9781423158158 Books Reviews

Fortuna meets Martin, an unusual, awkward boy who's staying with the Baldwin sisters. There's a reason he's strange...he's really a bird. The Baldwin sisters are witches who turned two swallows and an owl into humans. They're not supposed to be doing transformations like these since they can get into big trouble with the witches' council. They ask Fortuna to help them. With a deadline looming, the witches need to turn all three humans back into birds, or else they'll stay human forever and the witches will be severely punished.

Getting involved with Martin, Fortuna befriends him. She also finds out that the other swallow is his brother and the owl was an evil bird, Arrakis, who is now an evil man who wants to hurt the brothers. In the forest, Fortuna is a witness to Martin and his brother doing amazing things. Humans can fly. Also, there are birds watching and assisting them.

This story is a magical delight. I don't care much for animal characters, but I didn't mind them in this story. Fortuna is a great main character, someone who's kind and resourceful, and the other characters are well-written too. With the threat of Arrakis and the deadline, and all the surprises to be found with the brothers, this novel was quite suspenseful. I read this via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.
Adventure begins immediately in The Art of Flying, as eleven-year-old Fortuna knocks on the door of the scary old house where the Baldwin sisters live. Sent to perform a favor at her mother’s bequest, Fortuna figures that at least it will impress her brothers that she went inside the scary old house. But as the sweet old aunts offer her cookies and tea, she finds their behavior and their request more than a little strange.

Behind the parlor curtains, a skinny tousled-hair boy in mismatched clothes stands “hopping and flinching” at the sight of the aunts’ fat cat. The aunts call him Martin, but Fortuna learns that Martin is not quite what he seems. Kind aunt Ellie performed some magic forbidden by the coven of witches, and now the aunts want Fortuna to help them reverse the spell. Her job is to remind this odd boy who “pecks at his biscuits” that he has to return to what he truly is a bird.

Fortuna doesn’t believe in magic or witches or transformations from bird to boy, but when Aunt Selena tests her courage through a magic spell, Fortuna realizes her mother was wrong “the Baldwin sisters were not sweet, little old ladies.” That’s when Martin escapes through a window and Fortuna’s adventure begin.

Fortuna is on a quest to find Martin and convince him to be a bird again, but Martin is on a quest to find his brother who has also been transformed into a human. Both quickly discover they are the target of someone else’s quest Arrakis, the nasty owl turned into a man. He wants to capture both Martin and his brother, both now lost somewhere in the Woods.

In the meantime, the aunts are in trouble with the witches’ coven, and the Fourteenth Meeting of By Land, Sea, and Air, an order of birds, erupts into astonished chaos at rumors of their kinship running about as humans “Lost our king, did he say?” “Trans-for-what?” “Missing three?” “An infamous tree?”

Hoffman’s adept dialogue adds humor and spark, and she keeps her prose neat and smooth throughout. Plot moves brilliantly, as the human world, bird world, and world of witches collide. The reader is treated to wonderful descriptions of talking birds, each with their own peculiar dialects and mannerisms, foibles and bravery. As the crow Macarba learns his enemy Arrakis has been made into a man, he engages the sparrow Pip to warn Speaker Owl of trouble “Get back here, ya flibberty gidget. I have need of ye …Do you perchance know of Speaker Owl?” To which the sparrow bobs his head. “Everyone knows Mr. Owl, sir. He knew me dad, sir. Pip Senior. Not me.”

Little Pip hops and squeaks at notions of danger, quickly endearing the reader to both him and the strange, helpful crow. Throughout The Art of Flying, Hoffman creates humorous situations that vividly bring the bird world to life, and the world of witches resembles our human political structures often in funny ways. Martin and his brother are depicted with the charm of real sparrows, sitting side-by-side, nervously looking around, as birds do, and flitting about. Always on target, Hoffman’s prose provides just the right details to create full, vivid scenes and lively, authentic characters.

There’s a charm to Hoffman’s characters that I’m not sure I can explain. We’re immediately endeared to awkward, darling Martin, and we trust Fortuna to do what’s right and care for him. As a protagonist, Fortuna is daring and determined, though also in need of friends. A subplot follows the quest as her old friend Peter meets Martin’s brother, who tells Peter he can teach humans to fly. As the quest reunites Martin and his brother, it also reunites these two estranged friends, and their reunion brings them the best prospect of all, the potential to achieve every kid’s dream to fly.

The Art of Flying keeps readers turning the page as each action has repercussions in the various worlds Hoffman creates, building layers of action that culminate in a final meeting of all three worlds. The reader has to follow along because the worlds are intriguing and the characters too endearing to leave behind.
Terrific!