The Boy and the Airplane

Children's Literature
- Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
A young boy joyfully receives the gift of a red toy airplane. Across and around the wordless pages he flies it until, tossed too high, it lands on the roof. He tries several ways to get it down, in vain. Finally, inspired by a passing tree seed, he plants the seed. Over time, both the tree and the boy grow. As an old man, our hero finally reaches the plane. Instead of flying it, however, he hands it along as a wrapped gift to another child and exits off the still wordless page as another cycle begins. Pett uses pencil and watercolors naturalistically but most subtly to set the mood. Pages in tones of tan and brown plus the red plane keep the tale low key.