Book Reviews

The Avion My Uncle Flew
by Cyrus Fisher
Published in 1947 (I finished it on July 02, 2012)

This book was recommended by a friend from work. We were talking about French and she said she had read it years ago, in French class. I think. I was curious about it and eager to read anything that would help my French, so I ordered it online.

It’s definitely a children’s book, but it still interesting. The main character is a boy who echoes the juvenile sentiments of even many people today when it comes to other languages. Soon, he matures and welcomes the additional knowledge and the new worlds of dialogue that it allows.  He even learns that many English words came from French worlds due to the victory in 1066.

As the book progresses, the boy (and reader) are introduced to new words, which are defined repeatedly. Cognates are among many of them. By then end, one should know quite a few French phrases. There’s even a letter written entirely in French. That said, I probably would have been able to read the entire letter before even reading one page of the book. It’s pretty basic.

Oh yeah, the plot. It’s post WWII and a boy is living in France with his uncle while his parents are in England. He makes friends and helps his uncle build a new type of glider, all the while trying to figure out what the malevolent mayor is doing and why he wants the family to sell their old home.