The illustrations were nice. The time setting was a little confusing. Narrator said he was born in 1920s so I assumed it was an old man telling a tale from his childhood; instead it was set in that time. And the book seemed to imply that it was racist that the African-Americans weren't allowed to ride in the planes they worked on. My Caucasian in-laws have put in nearly half a century's worth of work in airline maintenance for the military and have never ridden on those planes. Maybe I'm missing More...

A picture book for intermediate and advanced readers; there is a lot of text on each page, a complicated story that mixes fantasy and reality, and historical information in the back about early Black aviators.

E.B. Lewis is at the top of his game as he adds just the right amount of magic to the water color drawings of Joe-Joe's fantastical flight.

I'd give the illustrations in this an easy five, but the story is about a three. Four seems just overall.