by David Bristow

When Sky Sailors came in to the library, I picked it up to flip through it like all the other new children’s books. I didn’t expect for it to grab my attention so much that I would read the whole thing. While I’ve always thought it would be interesting to go up in a balloon, I’d never thought about them much past that. I had no idea that the history of the balloon was so interesting and filled with so many adventures. Sky Sailors tells the stories of many brave men, women, and even children who took great risks for science, for entertainment, and in some cases, just for fun.

Just a few examples of stories told in the book – Two children went on an accidental – and unaccompanied – trip in 1858. They spent thirteen hours in the air before crash landing in a tree. Two scientists went up over 30,000 feet without supplemental oxygen to see what would happen and take scientific measurements. Balloons were used to airlift mail out of Paris during the siege in 1870. They carried homing pigeons with them to send replies back into Paris because they had so little control over the balloons that they couldn’t even aim for a city as big as Paris!

If you’re looking for real-life adventures, you won’t be disappointed with Sky Sailors.

reviewed by Jessica