Flight For Freedom by Kristen Fulton

 

Several years ago my family and I watched the movie Night Crossing by Disney, about two families, living in the 1970s, who escaped from Soviet West Germany in hot air balloon.  I was looking around for any books about the escape and came across this account written for kids

Flight for Freedom by Kriston Fulton is written giving a child's perspective.  Little 6 year old Peter Wetzel knows about the plan to try to escape East Germany in a hot air balloon.  He understands the seriousness of the situation as he watches his parents and the other adults plan and orchestrate the escape.  

It is written quite simply, conveying the story simply enough for children to follow along. "Each morning when Peter woke, he expected to find proof that his parents were building a balloon. But, the house was exactly as it had been the day before.  Everything hidden.  Everything quiet.  Peter wondered if it had been only a dream.  Would he ever escape East Germany? Have a sleepover? Not be afraid? He wanted to ask his mama and papa, but they had made him promise never to talk about the picture. Hard as it was, Peter kept his promise." The  illustrations help carry the story along, and are very well done, interesting to look at.  

 I found the 'more information' parts at the back particularly intriguing (and they helped satisfy my craving for more grown-up information about the escape).  There you find that the Wetzel and Strelzyk families made three hot-air balloons altogether, the first two didn't work, the third did.  It also tells about some the experiments they did to get the hot air balloon to work, as apparently all they really had to go off of was a picture of a hot air balloon, they had to figure out how to build it and how it worked all on their own: "After testing the porosity of several fabrics using a vacuum cleaner hose, among other materials found at home, they settled on nylon - a sturdy, lightweight material that also has a high melting temperature.  Because acquiring large quantities of nylon was both challenging and dangerous (as it could be seen as suspicious by East German authorities), they also used other fabrics such as bedsheets and shower lining." Also, if I remember correctly, the Disney movie makes it seem as though the Wetzel family pretty much gave up escaping altogether, but this book explains that they were concerned about the safety of the balloon and decided to find another way to escape, before eventually rejoining the Strelziks.

 My little brother is reading through the book, he likes the pictures and asks questions (and makes comments) about what he reads.  It's a very good teaching tool that can get conversations going with children about the different types of governmental systems and which one offers more freedom for individual people.

All in all, this is a nice teaching resource to have for kids.

Many thanks to the folks at Chronicle Books for sending me a free review copy of this book! My review did not have to be favorable.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

*****

This book may be purchased at Chronicle Books and Amazon.com