Air miles

In this companion book to Burningham's Motor Miles (2016), Miles (a dog) lives with a boy named Norman and his mother. Growing old, Miles has lost interest in chasing balls and taking walks. Sometimes he can't hear people calling him. Norman takes him to visit their neighbor, Mr. Huddy, who once made a car for Miles and taught him to drive. Now Mr. Huddy has built a little airplane and teaches him to fly. Fascinated, Miles begins flying often, though it exhausts him. Eventually, he stops. One day, he slowly walks to the plane, waits for Norman to lift him into the cockpit, and flies high into the sky, "higher than ever before." Norman walks home alone. Salaman wrote the clear, concise text based on a story idea that Burningham, who died in 2019, had discussed with him. Oxenbury, Burningham's wife, created the beautiful illustrations in pencil, watercolor, and gouache. Her line drawings sensitively convey the characters' emotions while the spare text leaves room for viewers to interpret events. A moving picture book.

The small dog who learned to drive a car in Motor Miles (2016) takes to the skies. Left barely begun at his death, Burningham's second tribute to a beloved Jack Russell terrier is expanded from notes and sketches (the latter smoothly interspersed with Oxenbury's more finished but equally spare and softly textured watercolors) into a poignant remembrance of the author. Looking for a way to cheer up his aging, droopy canine companion, young Norman Trudge again turns to local handyman Mr. Huddy--who, this time, wheels out an airplane just the right size for a small pilot with paws. Off goes Miles, soaring over fields and towns, by day and night, into and out of clouds. But a day comes at last when Norman helps him into the cockpit one last time and watches as he flies up into the misty sky and away. The narrative, also spare and freighted with feeling, ends with a tender farewell: "Goodbye, Miles." Norman, his mother, and Mr. Huddy are all light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Goodbye, Mr. Burningham. Thank you for one last grand and memorable flight. (Picture book. 5-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.