Fly Away Home

Bunting, Eve. Fly Away Home. New York: Clarion Books, 1991.

In Fly Away Home, a little boy and his father live in the airport. The book depicts a large supportive homeless community in the airport. As the little boy and his Dad move from terminal to terminal trying not to get noticed, several members of their homeless community are asked to leave the airport. It is after this that the boy shows his anger and frustration at being homeless, he doesn’t understand why other people have homes and not him. On the weekend his Dad goes to work in the city and he tries to make money returning luggage with his friend. At the end of the story instead of being sad or upset he is hopeful, because like a bird he saw fly away he hopes he will be able to get out of the airport one day.

I chose this book for my collection because of the realistic portrayal of homeless people and the variety of people shown in the story. As the boy and his Dad go from terminal to terminal they pass many homeless people, some with shopping carts, some being drunks, others just an old loving couple. It is through these multiple representations and through the image of their family that students can break their misconception that homelessness as simply a person begging for food. In the story the boy and his Dad buy breakfast from an airport cafeteria and on the weekends the Dad goes to work and leaves his son with another homeless family. It shows that most homeless people have money and are working to try and better their circumstances. Although, with heightened security living in an airport may not be realistic it is representative of the fact that all homeless people are not living on the streets.

I also chose this book because of the boy’s attitude toward being homeless. Throughout most of the book he was angry, frustrated, and confused. He didn’t understand why so many other people had homes to go to and he didn’t. Since, many children understand that their families have less money or a parent out of work, but don’t understand the “why”, behind it I felt this was an accurate portrayal of how a child would feel. In addition, I thought it was excellent to show that he had hopes to get out of the airport at the end of the story. After watching, a bird fly away, he realized that he too could one day leave the airport and fly away home.