Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4-6. It begins intriguingly enough--a yellow biplane, gray smoke billowing after it, zooms out across a seemingly endless expanse of gray-blue water. Then comes the bailout, and famous pilot Freddy Legrand lands in a tree on Sophie and Albert's farm. Intrigued by the plane, hospitable Sophie and Albert help Freddy, who returns their kindness by doing some farm chores (with laughable results--a farmer he's not). Soon, off he goes to resume his career, leaving his plane behind. As fate would have it, Freddy has a chance to use his farming skills when he crash-lands in the Alps. But how long can someone survive on mountain goat milk? He doesn't have long to wonder: a familiar yellow plane, piloted by none other than his two old friends, takes him home to a hero's welcome. Using flat, muted colors and thick black lines, Agee interprets Freddy's adventures in large, clear pictures. The story's joke is a little flat, but Agee does manage to conjure up a visual sense of flying's robust, heroic history. ~--Stephanie Zvirin
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
PW's starred review praised the ``dramatic flair'' and ``effervescent spirit'' of this inventive tale about a French aviator with nine lives. Ages 3-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3The daring escapades of an unflappable flier who crashes into a French farmyard and charms the owners, Sophie and Albert, who take him under their wing again when he is stranded in the Alps. A deadpan delivery, balanced by droll, stylized illustration. (Nov. 1992) (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Suave, dashing, pioneer aviator Freddy LeGrand runs out of gas on his transatlantic flight and drifts to earth in France. Undaunted by the fate of his first plane and encouraged by his fans, Freddy soars away in a new plane to fly around the world. But once again fate intervenes, and his plane is impaled on a high peak in the Alps. The mock-serio style of the text is matched by the straightforward, deadpan interpretive illustrations. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When Freddy's biplane, the Golden Gull, lands through the roof of a French barn after flying the Atlantic, farmers Sophie and Albert take an immediate interest in aeronautics. Freddy is glad to explain about it, but he finally leaves his new friends. After a triumphal procession in Paris, he builds a new plane, flies around the world, and crashes in the Alps, where he survives with the skills he learned on the farm--and where he's rescued by the Golden Gull, ably piloted by Sophie and Albert, who have repaired it. Agee's illustrations are a perfect match for his brisk text, their bold lines sketched with panache; their vigor, subtle humor, and rich, dark tones reminiscent of The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau (1988, ALA Notable). Lively story; grand pictures; much appeal. (Picture book. 3-8)
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