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The Balloon Sailors
Based on true events from the time of the Berlin Wall. When King Frack and King Frick divide their kingdom with a tall wall, Tamala and her brother send balloon messages over the wall to their beloved grandmother. Then Tamala decides her family can reach their grandmother the same in a hot-air balloon! The family gathers all the materials they will cloth for the balloon, straw for the basket. But where to find a gas burner? With spies everywhere, their work is extremely perilous. Nevertheless, Mother sews the material, Father weaves the basket, and Tamala and Abalon discover an old gas burner in a junkyard. After many nights of labor, their craft is ready and rises into the air. Guards on the wall spot them and fire their weapons, but the balloon sails safely over. Happily, they successfully reach their destination, just as two families from East Berlin did in 1979! An endnote ties this story to the dramatic true event. Key
24 pages, Library Binding
First published September 6, 2003
About the author
Diane Swanson
88 books1 followerDiane Swanson grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta. When she was a child, she collected rocks, watched insects, went swimming, and ate ice cream cones. She could make paper dolls and play the piano. Diane held pet shows and circuses for the neighborhood children. And to make a little cash she gathered cardboard boxes and sold them to the local grocery stores. She listened to radio programs like The Cisco Kid and played cowboys. Diane also loved to read. The Secret Garden was one of her favorites and she always wrote stuff—all kinds of stuff, especially her own adventures.
Diane’s dog, Sammy, was her ever-present pal. On summer mornings they would walk to a lake and scour the shore for neat-looking rocks. At home, Sammy would sit by the piano as Diane played, pretending that she had discovered a song that could open the door to a secret passage. Diane recalls that about the only thing they didn’t enjoy together were prairie thunderstorms. Sammy would hide, while Diane loved to watch the lightning flash across the sky. She thought it especially great when a hailstorm broke while they were outside. Then she and Sammy would take cover in the garage and send messages along the clothesline to the house: “We’re stranded! Send cookies!”
Now a full-time author, Diane has made a career of writing fun and informative factual books for kids. She credits the astonishing natural world as the inspiration behind her writing. Children have always influenced her approaches to writing: the child she once was, her own two children, and all the children she knows. One tip that Diane would give to young writers is: “Write what really excites you. No matter what your subject is, if you let your excitement shine through your words, you’ll grab your readers’ interest.”
Diane has published over 70 books for children including her latest with Annick Press, Animal Aha! (Spring 2009), about some of the incredible discoveries made about animal bodies and minds. Other books written by Diane include A Crash of Rhinos, A Party of Jays (2006). The Wonder in Water (2005), is a look at just what's in the wet stuff, from the tiniest drop of sweat to the largest ocean. Tunnels! (2003)is the first in the exciting True Stories from the Edge series. While researching these real-life tunnel stories, Diane unearthed the fascinating true story of two families’ daring 1979 escape over the Berlin Wall in a homemade hot-air balloon. That incredible event didn’t fit the underground theme of Tunnels!, but Diane could not let go of the story’s powerful message of triumph over dangerous political folly. The result is her first picture book, The Balloon Sailors (2003), a creative allegorical storybook based on those inspiring true events.
Other Annick Press titles by Diane include The Dentist & You (2002), Turn It Loose: The Scientist in Absolutely Everybody (2004) and Nibbling on Einstein's Brain (Original 2001, Updated 2009), which has recently been updated and newly illustrated. Her work has earned numerous awards, including the B.C. 2000 Award, the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, and the International Youth Library’s White Raven Award. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the B.C. Book Prize, the Red Cedar Award, the Silver Birch Award, and many more.
She was one of the original members of the Victoria Chapter of PWAC (Periodical Writers Association of Canada), a member of The Canadian Children’s Book Centre, is a member of CANSCAIP, CWILL, and was a volunteer tutor for Project Literacy.
Diane lives in Victoria, B.C., with her husband. When not working on writing projects,she is busy geocaching, ballroom dancing and raising bonsai trees. She also often visits schools and attends conferences.
Diane’s dog, Sammy, was her ever-present pal. On summer mornings they would walk to a lake and scour the shore for neat-looking rocks. At home, Sammy would sit by the piano as Diane played, pretending that she had discovered a song that could open the door to a secret passage. Diane recalls that about the only thing they didn’t enjoy together were prairie thunderstorms. Sammy would hide, while Diane loved to watch the lightning flash across the sky. She thought it especially great when a hailstorm broke while they were outside. Then she and Sammy would take cover in the garage and send messages along the clothesline to the house: “We’re stranded! Send cookies!”
Now a full-time author, Diane has made a career of writing fun and informative factual books for kids. She credits the astonishing natural world as the inspiration behind her writing. Children have always influenced her approaches to writing: the child she once was, her own two children, and all the children she knows. One tip that Diane would give to young writers is: “Write what really excites you. No matter what your subject is, if you let your excitement shine through your words, you’ll grab your readers’ interest.”
Diane has published over 70 books for children including her latest with Annick Press, Animal Aha! (Spring 2009), about some of the incredible discoveries made about animal bodies and minds. Other books written by Diane include A Crash of Rhinos, A Party of Jays (2006). The Wonder in Water (2005), is a look at just what's in the wet stuff, from the tiniest drop of sweat to the largest ocean. Tunnels! (2003)is the first in the exciting True Stories from the Edge series. While researching these real-life tunnel stories, Diane unearthed the fascinating true story of two families’ daring 1979 escape over the Berlin Wall in a homemade hot-air balloon. That incredible event didn’t fit the underground theme of Tunnels!, but Diane could not let go of the story’s powerful message of triumph over dangerous political folly. The result is her first picture book, The Balloon Sailors (2003), a creative allegorical storybook based on those inspiring true events.
Other Annick Press titles by Diane include The Dentist & You (2002), Turn It Loose: The Scientist in Absolutely Everybody (2004) and Nibbling on Einstein's Brain (Original 2001, Updated 2009), which has recently been updated and newly illustrated. Her work has earned numerous awards, including the B.C. 2000 Award, the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, and the International Youth Library’s White Raven Award. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the B.C. Book Prize, the Red Cedar Award, the Silver Birch Award, and many more.
She was one of the original members of the Victoria Chapter of PWAC (Periodical Writers Association of Canada), a member of The Canadian Children’s Book Centre, is a member of CANSCAIP, CWILL, and was a volunteer tutor for Project Literacy.
Diane lives in Victoria, B.C., with her husband. When not working on writing projects,she is busy geocaching, ballroom dancing and raising bonsai trees. She also often visits schools and attends conferences.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 22, 2018
Story version of the Berlin Wall based on a bit of truth.
January 29, 2015
This was a strange fictional tale that had an element of fact woven through. In a kingdom of legend there were two Kings, Frack and Frick; two brothers who divide their kingdom up with an imposing wall and cruelly separate their people. One family, desperate to be reunited with relatives on the other side secretly built a balloon to transport them across the wall.
The major flaw with this story was in the revelation that a family did indeed dare such lofty acts to traverse a real life wall, the Berlin Wall, in a real life place, Germany, in 1961. Instead of mentioning this in the afterward, where it should have been, it was included on the last page as part of the story and took away from the magical made-up realm that the reader was suddenly yanked from. That being said I really enjoyed this book and won’t let a small thing like the placement of the concluding information ruin the rest.
The major flaw with this story was in the revelation that a family did indeed dare such lofty acts to traverse a real life wall, the Berlin Wall, in a real life place, Germany, in 1961. Instead of mentioning this in the afterward, where it should have been, it was included on the last page as part of the story and took away from the magical made-up realm that the reader was suddenly yanked from. That being said I really enjoyed this book and won’t let a small thing like the placement of the concluding information ruin the rest.
December 31, 2014
Colourful and creative, this was just shy of being a child's very good introduction to complicated issues.
Unfortunately, the author or publisher ruined that at the last minute.
The placement of an explanatory paragraph on the facing page of the last sentence of the book just spoiled the magic and made the fairytale seem like a cruel joke. I mean, the paragraph actually begins, and I am not making this up or exaggerating, "This story is just make-believe..."
What a rotten way to end a kids' book! Otherwise, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would have given it at least three stars if it had not shot its own self in the foot like that.
Unfortunately, the author or publisher ruined that at the last minute.
The placement of an explanatory paragraph on the facing page of the last sentence of the book just spoiled the magic and made the fairytale seem like a cruel joke. I mean, the paragraph actually begins, and I am not making this up or exaggerating, "This story is just make-believe..."
What a rotten way to end a kids' book! Otherwise, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would have given it at least three stars if it had not shot its own self in the foot like that.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews