Bullies, Part Three: The Girl Who Could Fly

The Girl Who Could Fly

by Victoria Forester

Feiwel and Friends, 2008

review copy provided by the publisher

What's with all these books about bullies all of a sudden, you're wondering. I'm wondering that, too. I finished The Savage and picked up The Girl Who Could Fly, never expecting to find more bullies.

The inscription is by e e cummings, and it sums up the story quite well:

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best,
night and day, to make you everybody else
means to fight the hardest battle which any human
being can fight; and never stop fighting.

This is the story of Piper, a girl who can fly. She is gently pressured by Dr. Letitia Hellion into going to a special school, an institute, where there are others like her. She is told it is a place where she will belong. She believes and trusts Dr. Hellion, only to find out later that Dr. Hellion is not any kind of friend. Learning that kind and caring adults are actually cold and calculating bullies is a scary twist.

One of the first children Piper meets is Conrad, a bully who is instantly bent on her destruction. Later she finds out that Conrad is her best friend.

Instead of a place where Piper will be able to develop her unique abilities, the institute's mission is to erase the special talents from each child and make them "normal."

Against all odds, Piper has integrity. She stands up f0r what is true and right, not just for herself, but for all of the children at the institute.