The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

Title/Author: The Girl Who Could Fly/Victoria Forester
Publisher: Square Fish
No. of pages: 336
ISBN: 978-0-312-60238-3

In a nutshell
Read ‘The Girl Who Could Fly’ and you' get X-Men, the TV series, Heroes and probably, some of ‘Glee’ (without the singing) all in one book. Piper McCloud was born to fly, and being brought up in a small town like Lowland County, Piper’s parents, Betty and Joe McCloud, thought it was best they send her away to a ‘special’ school led by Dr. Hellion who promised that people like Piper will be in good hands.

Although Piper missed her parents terribly, she grew to like the school as she met people who are ‘different’, just like her –there’s Conrad’s exceptional intelligence, Lily who’s telekinetic, the Mustafa twins who can create their own weather and Smitty who has X-ray vision; she slept on a bed that was more comfortable than the one at home; ate food that was personalised and catered to her liking, and she was Dr. Hellion’s favourite student.

But soon, Piper realised things weren’t what they seemed and she must let the others know about it. She must get them out of the school. But how? And would the other students believe her?

What I liked:
Piper’s wise personal findings like when had this epiphany about cows, and said:
‘And then I got to thinking that if each of them cows got feelings, then they can have a purpose no different from us folks. Which got me to thinking about our purpose. And I realized that a person should get a handle on their purpose in this life if they aim to do something about it.’

And this, when she was trying to improve her new-found talent – flying:
‘Raw talent only gets you so far in this old world and the rest is a whole lot of practice, persistence, and perspiration.’

I especially liked this in one of Piper’s conversation with Conrad:
‘… they’ve got an incredibly comfortable bed and their thoughts stretch only as far as their next meal and how good the food will be, and for the most part they are given anything and everything they ask for. So they figure, why fight it? Without actually realizing it, they’ve sold themselves out for a cushy bed and a raging food addiction.’

Doesn’t that feel familiar? We have a house to live in, great food; we are so much better than other countries that are at war, people who are still struggling for independence and struggling to stay alive everyday. Plus, we are so much better than we were years before (At least that’s what they want us to believe. But seriously, are we?). I’m sure we know better than to just sit around, be indulged in all these little ‘luxuries’ and play a deaf ear and blind eye to the painful truth, right? Yes la, GO REGISTER AND VOTE.

Ok, I digressed :P Overall, the book is quite an entertaining read if you have a few hours to kill; like say, if you want to complete reading a book in a long flight.

This story basically teaches about family, friendship and not being afraid to be different. (and maybe a little about politics haha)

To note:
Hmm… It’s hard to say if this is a ‘safe’ read for teens or not. There are some pretty ‘harsh’ words like, ‘Let’s see a retard do this, you old bat,’ and ‘If we’re caught, I’ll electrocute you till you’re black and crispy.’

But okay I guess, if you’re fine with letting your kid know that life isn’t a bed of roses.

Image taken from: http://weread.com/book/0312602383/The+Girl+Who+Could+Fly/FBK-0312602383_-1