About the Author
Petra Mathers was born and raised in Germany and moved to the United States as a young woman. She now lives in Portland, Oregon. Petra is an illustrator first, and a writer second. While she brews a story of her own on some burner in the back of her mind, she is busy illustrating other people's books. Petra compares illustrating other people's books to "visiting". A certain politeness, consideration, and modesty are necessary. She is a self-described "sucker for love" and her stories are always about love -- she finds unsung heroes very endearing, as well as the clumsy, balding, fumbling, shy creatures who are quietly heroic, risking everything for love.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-- The gift of weather balloons and the helium to float them up sets a bored suburban boy off on a wacky, wish-fulfilling adventure, reminiscent in some ways of both Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (Harper, 1988) and Yorinks's Hey, Al (Farrar, 1986), but without their power or sense of mystery. Wade's hero first sends "up and away" things he hates--math book, Sunday shoes, dog and cat, teacher--until he gets an undeniable urge to travel and floats off himself. Up he goes--through storms, over cities, over flat yellow fields. At last, he sets down on a lush tropical island where--surprise--he finds everything he had sent away. These objects, plus the island's amenities, save him from feeling homesick and provide a very pleasant life ("I decided to stay."). But when a balloon bearing the message "Come Home, Son" arrives, the boy remembers dinner and heads happily for home. The book's quirky humor arises from the complimentary coupling of the deanpan narration and Mathers's flat primitive style. The two-dimensional look and the skewed perspectives reinforce the tone of the text, as if the boy were illustrating the story as he told it. Tongue-in-cheek details in the pictures add visual depth and interest. Fun but not essential. --Linda Boyles, Alachua County Lib . District, Gainesville, FL
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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