Have you ever been in a hot air balloon?
Where we live we see lots of hot air balloons in season
We see them leave from Leeds Castle and Bodiam Castle
This weekend I discovered that my aunty’s sister is a hot air balloon pilot
As well as an aeroplane pilot
How amazing is that!
There is something incredibly romantic about hot air balloon flight
To ride in a hot air balloon would be an awfully big adventure
Raccoon is in search of adventure
She loves her life in the forest but she yearns for some excitement
She has a taste of adrenaline and flight when she rescues a baby eagle
And returns the chick to it’s nest
Raccoon is full of awe and admiration for the enormous mother eagle
How Raccoon wishes that she could fly like that
Raccoon is woken from her sleep by a roaring sound
A hot air balloon has landed in a nearby field
Raccoon senses adventure
She climbs aboard the basket
Nibbles through the rope and shoots up to the sky in the hot air balloon
She is flying!
At first it is wonderful, adventure at last until Raccoon realises she cannot bring the balloon down
The mother eagle comes to her rescue with the help of all the other birds from the forest
Together they bring Raccoon back down to earth with a bump
While she is happy to be home she is soon ready for another adventure
What will Raccoon’s next adventure be?
This is a lovely book about being careful what you wish for
Being prepared for adventures
Courage and friendship
This is a story that shows one good turn deserves another and we are stronger together
This book would be wonderful in a KS1 classroom where children could draw pictures
Or write descriptions of what they would like to see from a hot air balloon
They could design their own balloons
Choose who they would like to have a balloon ride with
It would also be wonderful for children to draw or write the story of Raccoon’s river adventure
We have thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and sharing in Raccoon’s adventure
We loved making predictions as to how the balloon would come down and where it might land
So much potential for bookish learning and play with this brilliant new story
Raccoon and the Hot Air Balloon
From Maverick Books
We were given one copy of this book in exchange for an honest review