The Wing Shop
By Elvira Woodruff
Ilustrated by Stephen Gammell
Holiday House, March 1991
Ages 4-8
978-0823408252 hardcover
978-0823412600 paperback
Teacher activities
Matthew and his family have just moved from Main Street to Finley Street. But Matthew doesn’t like his new home. He’d like to go back to his old neighborhood. But how? He’s too young to drive a car or take a bus by himself. And his mother wants him to get used to his new house. Then one day, he discovers The Wing Shop. Swirling and flapping wings of every size, shape, and color hang from the wooden shelves. Maybe, thinks Matthew, a pair of wings could get him back to Main Street.
How Matthew finally discovers that his new home is best – after three wild and wacky airborne adventures – ends this entertaining story.
Praise for The Wing Shop:
“When his family moves, Matthew does not like their new neighborhood. Desperate for a way to get back to his old house, Matthew stumbles into the wing shop, where Lucy Featherman lends him three different pairs of wings. In one high-flying adventure after another, Matthew learns that home has more to do with the people who love you than anything else. Woodruff’s gentle wit and sense of broad fantasy raise The Wing Shop head and shoulders above the norm for problem-solving books. Best of all, Gammell’s shimmering watercolors, especially his panoramic paintings of Matthew in flight, are positively breathtaking. The slightly nerdy, bespectacled Matthew and carrot-topped Lucy – one shoe purple, the other green – are exuberant creations. Gammell’s work here is even stronger, looser and more appealing than in his Caldecott-winning Song and Dance Man.”—Publishers Weekly