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Fly High, John Glenn: The Story of an American Hero by Maurizio A C Quarello, Kathleen Krull
mallen8509's review against another edition
3.0
Fly High, John Glenn begins when John was a young boy and tells us how he became the first American to orbit the Earth.
This is a lengthy picture book, so if you're a teacher don't expect to read it all at once.
There's excellent information in this book, but it's a bit dry. I know my students (5th graders) wouldn't find this book engaging. I think there are a lot of unnecessary details included in this book that doesn't make this book a good read-aloud.
This is a lengthy picture book, so if you're a teacher don't expect to read it all at once.
There's excellent information in this book, but it's a bit dry. I know my students (5th graders) wouldn't find this book engaging. I think there are a lot of unnecessary details included in this book that doesn't make this book a good read-aloud.
tschmitty's review against another edition
4.0
John Glenn was a heroic man who spent a great part of his life in service to his country. This lovely picture book with lovely illustrations does a fine job sharing his life story.
panda_incognito's review against another edition
5.0
John Glenn is one of my all-time favorite figures in American history. When I was little, the Childhoods of Famous Americans biography about him was my favorite in the whole series, and I have always admired him for his accomplishments and his character. This book, which is slightly longer and has more text than the average picture book biography, covers the key facts along with vivid, moving illustrations. It made me so happy to read this, because despite the book's limited scope, it covered a wide range of background details, space flight specifics, and emotional moments from Glenn's life.
This book covers all of my favorite John Glenn fun facts, including his lifelong commitment to Annie, his childhood sweetheart. When they were children, he always stood up for her when bullies made fun of her for her debilitating stutter, and this impressed eight-year-old me very much. This book includes that detail, and perfectly conveys his deep love for his family, his bravery, his patriotism, and the joy that aviation and space exploration brought to his life. Also, the author's note in the back shares additional details, such as the role that Katharine Johnson played in checking the math for Glenn's spaceflight, and the relief that Annie felt when she overcame her stutter and could tell her husband to pick his socks up off the floor.
My only gripe, aside from the typo at the end of the author's note, is that the author does not name the Korean War in the main text. She writes that Glenn continued flying for the US military after World War II, but she does not name the Korean War specifically until the author's note, which children may not even read. It disappoints me that she bypassed this detail, because even though it is a lesser-known war, not mentioning it just perpetuates ignorance.
Other than that, I loved everything about this. The illustrations are gorgeous, the book tells John Glenn's story in way more detail than I had known to hope, and I am definitely going to add this to my collection. I can only imagine how much I would have loved this illustrated version of John Glenn's story when I was in elementary school, and I'm excited to recommend this to children and adults.
This book covers all of my favorite John Glenn fun facts, including his lifelong commitment to Annie, his childhood sweetheart. When they were children, he always stood up for her when bullies made fun of her for her debilitating stutter, and this impressed eight-year-old me very much. This book includes that detail, and perfectly conveys his deep love for his family, his bravery, his patriotism, and the joy that aviation and space exploration brought to his life. Also, the author's note in the back shares additional details, such as the role that Katharine Johnson played in checking the math for Glenn's spaceflight, and the relief that Annie felt when she overcame her stutter and could tell her husband to pick his socks up off the floor.
My only gripe, aside from the typo at the end of the author's note, is that the author does not name the Korean War in the main text. She writes that Glenn continued flying for the US military after World War II, but she does not name the Korean War specifically until the author's note, which children may not even read. It disappoints me that she bypassed this detail, because even though it is a lesser-known war, not mentioning it just perpetuates ignorance.
Other than that, I loved everything about this. The illustrations are gorgeous, the book tells John Glenn's story in way more detail than I had known to hope, and I am definitely going to add this to my collection. I can only imagine how much I would have loved this illustrated version of John Glenn's story when I was in elementary school, and I'm excited to recommend this to children and adults.
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