Do you remember how to Fly? (Fallen Angels - Colin Thompson)

Member Name: librelola

Product:	Fallen Angels - Colin Thompson
Date:	27/10/05 (424 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A story for the heart with illustrations that transport you...

Disadvantages: None whatsoever

I love children's books.

No! I mean I seriously love children's books!

Well all right, I love books as a general rule, but children's books, with their illustrations, have a different sort of appeal.
Sometimes an illustration says more than a story (indeed the same goes for a painting, a photo, a drawing… or a melody, but I am straying from the main subject...)

Before my son was even born, or conceived for that matter, I was buying children's books.

Sometimes I wonder if I didn't have the child to be able to buy the books…

What a horrible thought!! Forgive my twisted sense of humour…

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Thankfully, my son inherited my passion for books. I began reading to him when he was only 4 months old and he has revelled in their company ever since!

Books made of fabric, plastic, board, paper, water, air… but most importantly: imagination!

The astronomical array of children's books available nowadays is simply overwhelming. Many of them are "cute" books about dinosaurs, elephants, bears, pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, ants, fleas, and even microscopic life forms.
They are funny, enjoyable, and easy to read. My son does like them very much.

There are of course, the "educational" ones, which I thoroughly enjoy and so does he (my son), but I will leave these for another review.

Whilst I do like "cute" books and their "cute" illustrations, I much prefer books with a story that has a slightly "deeper" meaning. A little discreet "message" if you will. I like stories that are not hollow. Stories for the heart.

Colin Thompson's books all have this underlying "Little message" to convey, and he does so with an approach very much of his own. His illustrations are fabulous. Extremely detailed (to a point of exasperation almost; when you have a 4 year old (well 5 now) trying to look at every single tiny feature and asking you what this red dot is or why that tree has ears, it will be the only time when you will have bitter regrets about having bought his books…).
All his stories are for children aged 4 years or over.

The thing that is fascinating about his illustrations, both to children and adults, is that there is a big drawing to portray a part of the story, and within this very drawing, there are dozens or perhaps hundreds of tiny details which have nothing to do whatsoever with the whole tale. Little eyes coming out of everywhere, little individuals, flowers, engines, his ubiquitous "Café Max", houses, trees, aeroplanes, animals and all sorts of completely weird objects or beings. The man clearly lacks neither skill nor imagination.

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I first came across one of his books in a Waterstones store, in Finchley Road, London. I was trying to accommodate my relatively large backside on the comprehensibly small children's seats in the children's books area, while my son was pressing the exact same button on one of those extremely annoying (to adults) "speaking "books; in fact he had been doing this for well over 5 minutes and finding it very entertaining, whilst my fist was digging into my right cheek to such an extent that my right eye's eyelids were firmly shut.

Not wanting to spoil his fun, I started looking around and the first book my eyes fell upon was one called "How to live forever", by Colin Thompson. There will be a review about this at some point, but…

The title seemed interesting although quite outrageous. I dispassionately drew it out of the shelf, my right eye still tightly shut, and the illustration on the cover instantly grabbed my attention, to the point of unsticking my eyelid. Delicately drawing back the cover, I glimpsed the first image and was enthralled on the spot.

I wrote down the author's name on a piece of paper, and as soon as I was home, checked amazon.co.uk for any titles they had available.

There were a few, and all of them had titles I liked and cover illustrations that transported me elsewhere with a single glance.

I lost no time in ordering all of the books, at £4.79 each, soft cover, and one hard cover at £6.99.

"Falling Angels" was one of them. It arrived 2 days later along with its companions.

There was no question of showing them to my son until I had read them (how cruel can a mother get?) and the first one I picked up was Fallen Angels.

The illustrations, as mentioned earlier, I found truly amazing. ……….

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The story is about a girl who realises from a very early age that she could fly.

"The first time Sally flew was before she could even crawl."

She flew to many places and came back and told her mother of her adventures, who found nothing better to say apart from "You and your silly stories. It's time you came down to earth."

Thankfully, Sally's grandmother had not listened to her own mother and had flown to far away places as well, a secret she now shared with Sally.
"So you can fly too?" - said Sally
"Yes"
"So why can't everyone do it?" - Sally asks
"Because they've forgotten how and once it's forgotten, it never comes back..."
"Some people see the world with their eyes. Some people see the world with their hearts. All you have to do is keep your dreams."

Bedridden and very aged, she confides to her grand daughter that her biggest wish before departing from this world would be to visit once more the places she used to fly to. And so they fly away together on many adventures, travelling through all the wonderful sites she had visited before and "when she came to her favourite place, she took her last breath and stayed there forever."

"Sally grew up but never lost her dreams. There were times when it was hard, times when it would have been easier to come down to earth and never fly again…."

But eventually Sally never stopped and the end of the book is full of love and hope.

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"Falling Angels" is a very moving story. The essence of it is the inner capability that some people have to transport themselves mentally to other places; to dream and continue dreaming despite other's doubts and put downs and despite the harsh and difficult times which no one is impermeable to and which tend to be the worst dream and belief killers.

It was wise of me to have read this book alone the first time, because I was in tears from the moment that Sally's grandmother told her that everyone could fly forever if only they strived to remember how to.

I offered this book to my sister (and half a dozen other friends), who ended up in the same state as me (maybe it's something to do with our family!!). The reason probably is that it felt very familiar to the both of us and struck home like a needle in the heart that plunges in and out swiftly. I am not saying that I spent an hour pouring my heart out, but a few tears trickled down my face; the sort of tears that spring from the deepest well in your soul and albeit only meagre drops may come out, they are made of concentrated water with a meaning that is clearly (and painfully) understood but impossible to explain.

Having said this, it is the only book by Colin Thompson that has made me cry. The other ones are just as good, and I wholeheartedly recommend his books to any parent or anyone who knows a child or just enjoys children's books and marvellously unique illustrations.

My son loves this book; the depth of the story is, of course, not very apparent to him; he sees it in a different light, as all children are bound to, and he clearly enjoys the illustrations. I have lost quite some hair over this, trying to convince him to shut down the book and look for "little flowers and monsters" LATER!!!

In fact he loves all of Colin Thompson's books and we have read all of them many times over.

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A book is a gift to treasure, and there are always many books on the list of birthday and Christmas gifts that I wish to buy for my son.
A toy will give him many hours of fun but will eventually die out, unnoticed, in the heap of unused toys and less precious memories.

A good book will always be remembered, its story will always transport you to a specific place in time. This is especially true for children, as all parents will know,
they will make you read a book they enjoy on average 36 times a week, until both the child and yourself have learned every sentence by heart, whether you intended to or not!

I am still not able to read Falling Angels without feeling a pinch in the heart when I get to a specific part of it! I reckon that I may be over sentimental and I am sure that most people's voices will not break upon reaching any part of the book!

If you know a child who loves to dream, or one who could do with some dreaming, Falling Angels is most probably a book for him or her.

Here goes hoping that all of you have not forgotten how to fly…

© Lola Awada 2005

Summary: The storyline is simple but very touching and the illustrations are out of this world!