A confident kingfisher fledgling goes out on a limb by telling her siblings she can fly. But when she somersaults off the branch, she falls straight down, nosediving past owls, squirrels, bees, a spider, a snail, ants, and a ladybug. They all try to help her, but to no avail. Mel finally falls straight into the water and emerges with a fish in her beak. She flies up and up, back to her nest with bragging rights. She drops the fish just before she gets back to her branch, and a visual subplot shows the fish falling, saying “I’m flying! I’m flying!” before plopping back into the water. This book must be turned sideways, with the spine at the top, for the pages showing Mel’s descent, and then back around for Mel’s flight back up to her nest. A page at the center, showing Mel in the water, is cleverly designed to make the book turn seem natural and effortless. There are a lot of humorous details in the colored pencil-and-acrylic illustrations as other creatures react to Mel “flying” by. (Ages 3-7)

A Caldecott Honor Book and ALA Notable Book of the Year! An innovative and charming tale about a plucky little bird, from the award-winning author-illustrator of Fox the Tiger.

Readers will delight in turning their book sideways and upside down to follow Mel on her journey from downward fall to triumphant flight in this tale of self-confidence and taking a leap of faith. Please note: For the best reading experience, ebook customers may want to lock the orientation of their device before beginning to read.

An especially enjoyable and satisfying read-aloud!

Sometimes, you might fall

               down,

                               down,

                                               down,

before you learn to fly

               up,

                               up,

                                               up…