The Girl Who Could Fly

The Girl Who Could Fly

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89  ·  rating details  ·  5,310 ratings  ·  1,321 reviews
When homeschooled farm girl Piper McCloud reveals her ability to fly, she is quickly taken to a secret government facility to be trained with other exceptional children, but she soon realizes that something is very wrong and begins working with brilliant and wealthy Conrad to escape.

"Piper decided to jump off the roof. It wasn't a rash decision on her part. This was her pl...more
Hardcover, 328 pages
Published June 24th 2008 by Feiwel & Friends
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The Hunger Games by Suzanne CollinsPaper Towns by John GreenGraceling by Kristin CashoreThe Graveyard Book by Neil GaimanThe Host by Stephenie Meyer
2009 Printz Contenders
30th out of 49 books — 1,421 voters
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. RowlingThe Wishing Spell by Chris ColferHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. RowlingThe Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
Potential Fantasy Classics
5th out of 131 books — 71 voters


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Lucy
Nov 27, 2008 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of Savvy, The Mysterious Benedict Society
The McClouds have always done things the same way. They've farmed the same land, lived in the same town, and lived the same simple life for generations. But Piper McCloud is different. From the moment she was born, Piper could float, and when she got a little older, Piper taught herself how to fly.

When Piper accidentally reveals her talent at the town's Fourth of July picnic, she causes an uproar, and draws a lot of attention--including the attention of Dr. Letitia Hellion, who runs an institute...more
Bonnie at A Backwards Story
Have you ever picked up a book and thought, "Hmm, that sounds interesting," then, upon reading it, think it's middle-ground, only to change your mind yet again because the final third is so good it more than makes up for everything else? That was my experience with The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester. I'm not saying the first two-thirds were sub-par or dislikable, just that I wasn't hanging onto
every twist and turn in the plot. By the end, however, I was hoping there was a sequel on the...more
Becky
Forester, Victoria. 2008. The Girl Who Could Fly.

Piper decided to jump off of the roof. It wasn't a rash decision on her part.

The Girl Who Could Fly is an odd little book that I couldn't help enjoying. Piper McCloud, she flies. A girl who flies. When her flying catches attention, mysterious strangers show up on the family farm promising her family that they've got the perfect school for her. A school where her specialness will be appreciated. So away Piper goes. Leaving behind her family and her...more
Joy
Jan 31, 2009 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all y'all
Recommended to Joy by: Stephenie Meyer
This book was recommended by one of my favorite authors, Stephenie Meyer. On her site she states, The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester "is the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men."
The librarian likes to talk with me about the books I read and where I get my suggestions. So, when I picked up the book today - (TODAY, I read this book in a day!), I gave her Stephenie's take about it being a cross between Little House on the Prairie and the X-Men. Just saying it out...more
Tamara
This book is utterly fabulous. While charmed from the beginning, I was simultaneously wary that it might be hodge podge of ripped off ideas from Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter & X-Men. Thankfully, this book ended up creating a world of characters and places firmly its own. I love this book, and recommend it to anyone.
Libby
Apr 01, 2009 Libby rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Libby by: Mirjam Kirkham
Well-written with interesting and complex characters, this book was better than its summary led me to believe. Piper McCloud is a sheltered farm girl who discovers she can fly. When she reveals this to her close-minded community, the expected fear of anything different surfaces and forces Piper into a special school with other 'gifted' children.

While presenting the age old conflict of individuality vs. conformity, this book provides complex characters and unexpected twists of plot. It is a fun,...more
Charlyn  Trussell
Jun 29, 2011 Charlyn Trussell rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Grades 5 andn up
Piper's father and mother are simple folk, a farm family in a small community. So when they find baby Piper floating, they realize this child is special and they shelter her from the curious. Piper eventually realizes she has the gift of flight, but she doesn't realize how dangerous that gift is until she uses it to catch a baseball at a picnic and finds an army of reporters surrounding the house the next day. When Dr. Hellion, a beautiful, kind woman, arrives and promises to take Piper away to...more
Lindsey
Piper McCloud can fly, and when the neighbors find out, a super-secret organization comes and takes her away to live with other kids (and plants and animals) with special talents. At first we are led to believe this organization (I.N.S.A.N.E.) wants to help them, but the true motives are much more sinister.

I liked this book, but I have a hard time pinning down the audience. I would say 3rd-5th grade, but there is a scene where Piper is tortured for her misbehavior and it seemed too mature compar...more
Amanda
I was forced to end my reading strike (for the rest of May) when I picked this book up and innocently read the first couple of pages. While parts of the book are awkwardly written, I couldn't help but fall in love with the main character and kept reading just to make sure she ended up okay. The story was captivating and the message was good. This was a great quick read.
El Templo de las Mil Puertas
"Nadie se explica el por qué. Ni sus padres, temerosos de que el Señor les haya enviado un mensaje desde el cielo, ni los vecinos, cotillas e incrédulos, ni ninguno de los animales que vive en la granja, pero Piper McCloud puede volar. No utilizando aviones ni subiéndose a globos aerostáticos como el resto de los mortales, sino por sí misma. Sólo necesita concentrarse, dejar la mente en blanco y… ¡voila! Al momento siguiente se encuentra disfrutando de una espléndida vista aérea y de la compañía...more
Kate Coombs
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I basically like the main character, Piper, and I also like the initial setting of a farm--which makes this book rural fantasy, the new subgenre I've been telling people about (Ingrid Law's Savvy is the best-known example). On the other hand, the later chapters are a little bumpy. Piper McCloud can fly, so her anxious, tradition-bound parents spend the early years of her life trying to hide her gift. Eventually the neighbors find out, and s...more
Eva Mitnick
Weird, isn’t it, how certain themes will pop in several different books all of a sudden? In The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester (Feiwel and Friends, 2008), young Piper McCloud has a special gift – she can fly (making her name quite apt). This gift – and the fact that other kids around the world are born with other unique gifts – and Piper’s down-home folksiness reminded me quite a bit of Ingrid Law’s Savvy, with those unique Talents that a certain family inherits at age 13. And then ther...more
Monica!
Seriously, kids. Who hasn’t thought, at one point in their life, about how fucking awesome it would be if you could fly? You could escape large attack dogs! Spray paint hard-to-reach overpass signs! Travel to Australia without shelling out a million bucks for a plane ticket! Creep around people’s windows like it was your job!

(Okay, clearly I would abuse my powers of flight.) (Australia, though.) (That would kick ass.)

Our protagonist, Piper, can fly, and it seems to be just as amazing as one wou...more
Adeline Pangilinan
I chose to read, “The Girl Who Could Fly” because the cover and title got me really hooked. The book is about a young girl, Piper, from the countryside with an usual capability to fly. She is sent to I.N.S.A.N.E. an institution to supposedly teach young children with super powers to control their powers but instead strips them of their precious gifts. In a heroic attempt to save her friend, Piper, comes up with a plan finally revealing who really is the real evil and the kind people of this horr...more
Ella Ostedgaard
I love this book so much. I'll admit it- I've probably read it five times now. I have always wanted to be able to fly so I think that's a big reason I really enjoy this book. I also adore Piper's character. I love her personality and innocence, yet at the same time she is so fierce and stands up for what she believes in. The author did a really good job of building her characters. She gives them all such a background, I felt like I knew them all personally. And the author gave very good details...more
Beverly
Apr 04, 2013 Beverly rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 10-12 year old girls
The Girl Who Could Fly starts out deceptively simple, but is actually quite complex with several surprise twists. Piper is the daughter of simple rural Christian folk who aren't used to change or diversity. So, when they discover their daughter can fly, they are both ashamed and fearful. They try to keep Piper's special ability a secret, but when word gets out some very imposing people show up and offer to take Piper to a special top secret school for children with unusual talents. At first, Pip...more
Faraaz
a) Sci-fi
b) 328 pages
c) This book is about a girl named Piper McCloud. She has the ability to fly. This started when she was young, she would just float around at random times. Then when she was older she still would just float around randomly. One day she saw a little bird jump out of a tree then start flying. She wanted to control her flying and be able fly around with control. So she did what the bird did. She climbed on top of the highest building on her farm and jumped off. Right before she...more
Chloe
OMG. I was practically hyperventilating when I was reading this.
Okay, to be truthful, I read this book like, what? 2 years ago?
My former BFF who lived in Canada sent me this.
I lived in Canada and then I moved to my home country so she sent me this as a present. (But now we're not in touch. :()
I was thrilled. I loved books then and I wasn't really that good at my home language so I was reading and rereading all of the books in my house. Well, English ones anyway. Which, I will tell you, is quite...more
Julesmarie
Whew, I've no desire to be harsh in a review of a children's book, but it might be difficult here. I'll do my best to be constructive rather than giving in and just ranting.

I think I understand what the author was trying to accomplish with the ridiculous over-the-top-ness of everything here. It seemed as though she was aiming for satire, which may actually be my biggest issue with the work. There are certain stories and certain genres in which satire is delightfully appropriate and helps illustr...more
Keilah R
By:Victoria Forester
328 pages
Fantasy
Finished September 13, 2012

Piper McCloud could float when she was only a baby, and when she became older, she jumped off the roof, in hopes of flying, and that's exactly what she did. After flying, while trying to catch a ball at a baseball game, Piper had attracted the attention of Dr. Hellion. Dr. Hellion is the boss of a school for kids, like Piper, with extraordinary talents. She takes Piper to this school, where she meets many other kids like her. Soon Pi...more
Emily Tuckett
This just may be the best book I’ve read all year! The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester is a marvel, with features that delight such as characters you can relate to, a plot that goes from innocent to intense, and vivid, hilarious prose. Forester is quite the story teller, and you can distinctly feel her enigmatic and comic voice through out the story. One of my favorite parts was Forester’s description of a minor character Bella. I’m paraphrasing, but the author described Bella as the dau...more
Nicole Hedley
When my mother came home with this book from the library, I threw it in the corner. I was twelve, and this book did not seem to be what I wanted. But three days before she had to take it back, she told me to give it a chance.
I then found my favourite book.
This book had so many twists, and so many turns, it made my heart soar, and made it sink like lead. The way Victoria describes the powers, the noises, everything, drove my twelve year old self to the edge. I wanted to write like that, make the...more
Brenda
There's hawk is calling outside my window. It is soaring above the field. That is something I have always admired. If I could fly I would! And that is what Piper McCloud can do, in fact must do She is a natural born floater. She can fly but she learned that "raw talent only gets you so far in the world and the rest is a whole lot of practice, persistence and perspiration." Piper loves to fly. She loves the feeling and the freedom but she has been forbidden to because it is different. Ma likes th...more
Missie
If your copy's like mine, there's a blurb from Stephenie Meyer about how this book is a mix between Little House and X-Men. Surprise, surprise, I disagree with Stephenie Meyer about something. This time, it's a matter of "close, but no cigar," Ms. Meyer. For the most part, the book reads at a similar level and with a similar feel as the first few Harry Potter books. Courageous kids, special abilities, boarding school, some real evil characters. The Little House bit of Meyer's comparison comes fr...more
Tami
The Girl Who Could Fly is the story of Piper McCloud, a young girl born on a farm who discovers at a young age that she is able to fly. Her parents are confused and worried by their daughter’s gift and keep her isolated from others in the community for just that reason.

When Piper and her parents attend the 4th of July picnic, Piper is deliriously happy at the idea of making friends and spending time with children her own age. The picnic is a disaster; Piper’s dreams of friendship are crushed and...more
Wanita
Oooooooooooooooh, it was great. I can't help admit. My summary of it is: It starts out with a small girl, Piper, from the time that she was a baby, she floated. She floated off of the changing table and her father had to get a ladder to get her down from the ceiling! But hen, when she was alot of years older, she tried jumping off of the roof of her ginormous house, and, I can't remember what had happened EXACTLY, but I'm pretty sure she fell right on her butt/back. And then, a couple of months...more
Star Books
The Girl Who Could Fly is definitely one of the best books I've ever read! I was just hanging out in the library one day, looking for something interesting, when my eyes fell upon this novel. I'd never heard of it, but the moment I read the title, it just drew me in. The book is beautifully written and it makes you want to never stop! Victoria Forester did a wonderful job keeping me eager to read the book all the way until it ended.


Piper, the main character, is an ordinary home-schooled farm gir...more
Hannah
I would probably give this 2.5 stars.
But let me start out this review by saying this book is not for children.

It's just not. There are numerous conflicts in the book that require a more mature grasp of reality. Torture, abuse, imprisonment, lobotomy, religion, death, drugs, and lies. Not to mention that there were certain sexual innuendos as well as moderate curse words. All of it was heavily present, and the final result was a book whose audience has been incorrectly marketed.

Of course, the pre...more
Cynthia
Bercerita tentang Piper McCloud, seorang anak perempuan dari Lowland Country yang memiliki kemampuan untuk terbang. Suatu hari, dia ditemukan oleh agen dari INSANE (Institute of Normalcy, Stability and Non-Exceptionality) dan dimasukkan ke institut itu. At the beginning, she is enjoying making friends with other kids that are also special, learning and overall..adapting. Konfliknya muncul saat ternyata INSANE tidak seperti yang terlihat, institut itu ternyata dikelola untuk tujuan............sam...more
Nina
After reading The Girl with the Silver Eyes I was a bit hesitant to pick up another middle grade book. But after carefully deciding what to read in the month November, I couldn’t resist this fabulous cover and picked it up right away. I’m glad I did, because it was a fantastic middle grade read.

Piper McCloud (Don’t you just love that name?) is such a cute little girl. She’s so adorable and loves flying. Yes, flying. All of the other characters were great too, especially the villain. She was jus...more
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I LOVED THIS BOOK 6 22 Jun 05, 2011 09:28pm  
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Victoria grew up on a remote farm in Ontario, Canada. After graduating from the University of Toronto, her passion for storytelling led her to write and direct a short film for the CBC. When her next film was completed (The Pony’s Tale which aired on Global Television) she eagerly, and perhaps rashly, set off to Los Angeles.

The famous independent film producer, Roger Corman, mentored Victoria and...more
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“There is a place deep, deep inside every person that is hidden and hard to find. If things get bad enough and life gets too hard, though, some people will go to that place and never come back from it. Certainly, all outward appearances will suggest otherwise. They will look as they always did. They may even act somewhat like their old selves, but the trut is, the real truth is that they are hiding in this place deep inside where no one can touch or hurt them anymore.” 60 people liked it
“My ma told me that there isn't anything in this life worth having that comes easy. She told me that every road I walk down's gonna have a price. But what she didn't tell me and what I learned since I've been here is that if you don't choose the road you're gonna walk, sooner or later someone else'll do that choosing for you.” 40 people liked it
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