He has illustrated numerous other picture books for Templar, including The Rhythm of the Rain which won the English 4-11 Picture Book Awards and the Greenaway shortlisted Leon and the Place Between . It could be used as a starting point for pieces of writing, either following on the story or by taking an image and creating a different story.

A sumptuous and eye-catching book from the outside, which doesn't disappoint when opened to reveal a stunningly illustrated and very touching story. Not only are the illustrations whimsical and creative and beautiful, the story is wonderfully touching' - Myfavouritebooks. A complex book that has several themes that would appear more prevalent the older or 'mature' the reader. The story is open for interpretation because of its unusual content, however more common themes arise such as family, loss and ambition, which people may relate to. Yet the moving relationship between father and son has a bitter sweet legacy and one that carries through to the next generation.A young boy, bewitched by his fathers unrelenting passion to fly; a desperate craving that absorbs his every waking minute, finds himself entranced by the dream. It's a story about family, loss and ambition with many opportunities for prediction, inference and discussion. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. A young boy, bewitched by his father's unrelenting passion to fly; a desperate craving that absorbs his every waking minute, finds himself entranced by the dream. This illustration would be perfect for discussing with a class at the time of remembrance day and why it is we wear poppies in a very sensitive way.

These are not minor finnicky points: books for children need to use better fonts to encourage the children to read, to be accessible to children and parents with eg dyslexia, and to be readable at bed-time when the lights are low.For many books these two points would cause me to only give a single star rating, so the fact I still rate this at 4 stars say something about how good it is. These often thought-provoking stories look at the reactions ordinary people have to the unusual situations they find themselves in and feature a host of different illustrative styles ranging from collage to painterly Edward Hopper-esque scenes. Much later, the boy, now a young man, finds himself drawn once more to his father's drawings and failed experiments. A lot of this book is set to interpretation which can bring great conversational pieces for the class.