Skybound!, a non-fiction, entrepreneurial illustrated book is easy to love

Why do we read? There’s a poster in a class that I’m teaching now that lists Great Reasons to Read. Yeah, that list might seem passé or obligatory, but for a group of high school students who would sooner watch paint dry, so long as it’s on their cell phone, they need to be reminded as to what reading can do for their ever-growing brains. Skybound! Starring Mary Myers as Carlotta, Daredevil Aeronaut and Scientist check off every one of the things listed on that list, if such a list exists for elementary school ages. Spoiler alert: that list exists and it’s the same one that’s in the high school class; it’s just that young audiences like elementary school readers need to have it presented with a little more panache, enthusiasm, and show.

Employees at Walt Disney Parks know about ‘show’. It that case, and in the case of the great forms of entertainment, it’s used as a noun or an adjective as to how the public perceives the show. Bad show, good show, the ride attendees have good show, they needed better show are four ways it’s used in their internal communication. Skyound! has great show. It’s a non-fiction illustrated book that’s stuffed to the brim with energy, variety in its presentation, and curiosity seeds that are quickly planted in those young readers.

Mary Hawley was born in 1850. She was always very curious and dreamed of doing more than society would normally allow a woman at that time. In 1871 she married Carl Myers, an inventor, scientist, engineer, and photographer, basically everything that she was interested in, but frowned on by society. The two took an avid interest in the new past-time of ballooning. Hot-air balloons had been invented in Europe 100 years earlier and were becoming much more popular in the United States. Those who flew in them could conduct scientific experiments and the fact that nobody had seen one before made them a guaranteed magnet for crowds.

The Myers created a new fabric for balloons to be made from and hired Professor Walliky Rulison, an aeronaut (person in a hot-air balloon) to pilot it. The two realized that the scientific experiments that they wanted to conduct up in the sky would work best if two people were engaged in the process. One would be a pilot (the aeronaut) and the other would record the scientific data. Mary made a list of reasons why she’d be the be aeronaut for the Myers team and Carl agreed with her.

Carlotta was the stage name created for her maiden voyage, one that would take her one mile high and stay airborne for five miles or thirty minutes. The day of the flight it was rainy and overcast, two things that weren’t pleasant, but couldn’t cancel the flight and didn’t deter the thousands who came out to watch her. Two thousand feet higher she was able to get to work with the altimeter, compass and releasing the pigeons that would deliver messages about her descent.

Skybound!, as an illustrated book focuses on one flight. It was her first and landed in a farmer’s field 20 miles away. She made other flights too, many of which were far more dangerous and ripe with close calls. On one flight, 25,00 people were crushing the balloon, so Mary ran along their heads and shoulders, jumped into the ripped balloon to where it soared two miles up, and she had to ad hoc it into a parachute to land safely. How has this not been made into a movie yet?

It’s great when you read something and then ask why it is you haven’t heard about it before. That is the reaction that you’ll have after reading Skybound!. The story itself is fascinating and loaded to the brim with action that’s made for the big screen. The presentation in Skybound! is what makes it so affable to young readers. Its text, and the size of the words, might be intimidating to young elementary ages, but the varied text sizes and playful nature of the illustrations will draw them in. This is where the clever, subtle use of its occasional rhymes and highlighting of the more complex terms makes kids curious. As with any great illustrated, non-fiction book, there’s a bibliography, a timeline of her life, and a couple of pages with text written at an adult level that add details. This is part where effortless learning happens and kids want to hear the story because it’s interesting and well told, as opposed to merely having to sit and be quiet for storytime.

Skybound! Starring Mary Myers as Carlotta: Daredevil Aeronaut and Scientist is written by Sue Ganz-Schmitt and illustrated by Iacopo Bruno and is available on Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers.

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