Honor Flight: Celebrating America’s Veterans by Jeff Gottesfeld, Illustrated by Matt Tavares

 

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ak what you can do for your country.” – President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

Is there a war memorial that is special to you?  I think all of the memorials in Washington DC are awe inspiring and inspirational but visiting the Vietnam memorial with my best friend in high school while she searched for her uncle’s name really brought home to me the sacrifice that many soldiers have made through the years for our country.  I like visiting war memorials in local communities as well and giving a moment of silence to those that lost their lives for our country.

Honor Flight: Celebrating America’s Veterans is a great illustrated book for children to learn about war heroes, veterans, and honor flights and is perfect for Memorial Day.  This book does a great job of describing what a veteran is and follows a veteran that does not want to be forgotten.  He receives a call from the Honor Flight Network.  The book explains that Honors Flights bring aging veterans to Washington DC to visit the memorials.  The veteran makes his visit and gets to see many important memorials that are described.  The veteran feels valued on his trip and on the way home he receives a special package with heartfelt letters from many people in his community.  He learns when he gets home that Troy, the guardian who guided him through the journey, was a teacher and his fourth-grade class had raised the funds for him to go. 

A great afterward tells more detail about how the Honor Flights were started and the Notes section gives more detail on the places visited and terms used in the text.

The illustrations were bright, colorful, and went perfectly with the story.

Overall, Honor Flight:  Celebrating America’s Veterans by Jeff Gottesfeld, Illustrated by Matt Tavares brought a tear to my eye.  This is a great illustrated children’s book that is perfect to explain Honor Flights and veterans to children or maybe adults too that are looking for an uplifting read.

Book Source:  Review copy from Candlewick Press.  Thank-you!