Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride

It is a book about history through bright and colorful illustration. The story takes place in Versailles with names and description which certain children will not be able to follow. Marjorie Priceman's work have always been dramatic with flair and this is no exception. This illustrated story is an adventure as the three wildly matched creature comforts, a rooster, a duck and a sheep sail through the sky in a colorfully set ambient of historical monuments one after another. It is a visually exciting story for children who especially like history and science. Thumbs up!

My daughter loved this book from her third grade reading list. Engaging pictures, detailed information on the covers on the development of hot air balloons.

More of a picture book and less of a story, but cute.

The book was exactly as described. I gave it as a gift and the person who received it really enjoyed the book. I would order from this company again.

AMAZING illustration. And great message for kids.

Hot Air: The Mostly True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride is about . . . well, the title pretty much says it all, doesn't it? I wanted to love this book because it is about two things that are very important to my life: French History (I am an author of the subject) and aviation (I have been married to a pilot for almost 20 years). However, I just didn't LOVE this book. The writing was not clever or catchy, no fun repetitive phrases or colorful words that would engage young readers. Frankly, the story is bland, boring. I also found the different sizes of typeset annoying. The most important negative, however, is that the author contends Benjamin Franklin was at the hot air balloon ride over Versailles. This is not true. Benjamin Franklin witnessed early hydrogen balloon experiments. Now, for the positive. The illustrations in Hot Air are absolutely beautiful, full of bold, lively colors that reminds me of a bright sunny day in a garden in Paris. I love, love the colors this illustrator used. I also like the back leaf information about the history of ballooning. If you would like a children's book about the first manned hot air balloon flight, I highly recommend Mouton's Impossible Dream by Anik Scannell McGrory, which is a fun book to read...a sure hit with young readers.

The students loved this book. They laughed so hard!

given to school library

This books consists of mostly illustrations with no words. I’m glad I only wasted money on the kindle version. If I’d paid $29 for the hard copy I’d be so angry!

For such a promising concept, this book falls completely flat. I can't imagine who the audience for this book is meant to be - it begins and ends with excessively complex language, but the middle section, the so-called 'story' of the three animals is told only through visually confusing illustrations. It can't really be called a story at all. The animals encounter a series of bizarre mishaps that are presumably meant to be amusing but make little or no sense. They finally crash-land and the verbose narrator picks up the thread again, apparently in a hurry to wrap up this non-adventure. There is no 'hook' to this story to engage young readers or listeners. I was hoping to use it with my class of 6 year olds as a fun way into the history behind our transport topic, but on seeing it, I think it'll be worse than useless for the purpose, so I'm returning it as quickly as I can.