Storytime With Venessa: The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

Piper McCloud can fly!  But not everyone in Lowland County is as excited  about that as Piper is.  After causing a sensation with a fantastic display of her abilities, Piper is approached by Dr. Letitia Hellion, who runs I.N.S.A.N.E, an institute for children with extraordinary abilities like Piper.  Piper doesn't want to leave her ma and pa, but believes this is for the best.  She will be with other kids just like her, she might even be able to make friends!  Piper settles in at her new school but it takes time to learn the rules and put up with the light hazing from the other students.  But as Piper gets to know the other children, adapts to the rigorous schedule, it doesn't seem so bad.  In fact, she's starting to enjoy it, especially now that she's making friends.  But there is something sinister going on and Piper discovers they are not safe at I.N.S.A.N.E.


The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester is another great book Venessa and I read together.  As usual we have a video review with Venessa and my thoughts will follow.  V was a little impatient (she's been into MythBusters lately and we've been watching it on Netflix) so the video is not too long.  

My thoughts: I really like this book.  Piper is such a wonderful, strong and determined young lady.  She's kind but is not a push over.  I really liked the way her relationship with Conrad, the local genius at I.N.S.A.N.E., developed.  They were enemies but when Piper learned the truth about him, they banded together and became great friends.

There are some pretty harsh moments in this book. Some physical and emotional torture happens.  It's intense, but when I think about it, it's nothing different then what I've seen on Avatar: The Last Airbender.  I think it helps to generate conversation with your kids about people and their motives and most importantly, being true to yourself no matter what.

This book is very easy to read aloud but there's a lot of emotion going on and there were a couple of times where I was tearing up.  That don't help when you're reading aloud!  My one critique are the abilities of the children.  They are the usual flying, telekinesis, weather manipulation, etc. that you've seen in X-Men.  BUT, it's still a really enjoyable book because there are some very moving and surprising moments, such as the real motives of Dr. Hellion and that the children are not the only ones with amazing powers.  The end is left slightly open for a possible sequel.  I haven't read if there will be one or not but it ends in a way where you can let your imagination do the rest if there isn't, which I think is great.