Search - The Twenty-One Balloons

I read this book to my sixth grade class each year when we discuss the Ring of Fire. It amazes me how every student is enthralled by the thought of traveling in a hot air balloon for a year! Without a doubt, their favorite parts are the descriptions of the innovations included in Mr. M's house. With all the technology we possess now, I am amazed at the fact that they think the technology discussed is COOL! I highly recommend this book for anyone with children. It is so imaginative and fanciful. Everyone is sure to get lost in it.

This is A FANTASTIC book that has won a NEWBERY MEDAL!

Annotation
Tells what happens to a bored old mathematician when he takes a trip across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

From the Publisher
Professor William Waterman Sherman just wants to be alone. So he decides to takea year off and spend it crossing the Pacific Ocean in a hot-air balloon the likes of which no one has ever seen. But when he is found after just three weeks floating in the Atlantic among the wreckage of twenty hot-air balloons, naturally, the world is eager to know what happened. How did he end up with so many balloons . . . and in the wrong ocean?
Winner of the Newbery Medal

From The Critics
Children's Literature
This Newbery Medal winner was written in 1947 and definitely has the look and feel of another era. Professor Sherman wants to retire from teaching math and travel by balloon for a whole year. His balloon, the Globe, rose quickly and is carried from San Francisco out over the ocean. Sea gulls fighting over food on the top of his balloon punctured it, and Professor Sherman plummets to the legendary island of Krakatoa. How he ended in the Atlantic in a 20-balloon contraption after Krakatoa exploded is what kept a nation transfixed until he could tell his story-but only to the Western American Explorers Club. Numerous drawings by the author accompany the story to help kids visualize the wide range of exotic inventions that are an integral part of life on Krakatoa.

Very interesting story and well written. Children and adults loved it.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time!!! The characters are amazing and the storyline can't be beat!!! A fun, light-hearted tale!!

This gentle, detailed account of a wild balloon adventure is one of my favorite kids books. Fantastically imaginitive, featuring amazing adventures and a colossal volcanic explosion, it transports the reader to a totally different time and place. A true classic! My husband is reading it aloud to my seven year old, and both are enjoying it very much.