The Twenty-One Balloons

Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: I first read du Bois' work in sixth grade I believe, and I was captivated by his storytelling. In all fairness, I seldom have ever read fiction, but this book has a unique plot about it and offers fascinating elements of a story. At 19, I'm tempted to pick it up again as a refreshing escape from Macroeconomics and Brief calculus.

The Twenty-One Balloons is an excellent read at the surface. However, it also offers up serious literary excellence. Any middle school English teacher, who would have their students read this book, would talk endlessly about the merits of the book. Foreshadowing, dynamic characters... it all flows evenly to produce a work easily readable for younger crowds but intense while still somehow whimsical for older kids.

Overall, you won't be able to put the book down, and that's a serious assertion.

Rating:
Summary: The Twenty-One Balloons
Review: I first read this story nearly 30 years ago, when I was not quite yet a teenager; I've read it many times since. It never fails to delight, fascinate, amuse, and enthrall me. It is by turns hilarious and innovative, combining science, fantasy, whimsy, and adventure in an intoxicating magma that explodes in an eruption of high drama. OK...perhaps that last sentence was over the top, but when you're trying to describe a fantasy tale about the explosion of the Krakatoa volcano, you can get burned by using too many cute metaphors and adjectives. Look...let's keep it simple. This book rocks. It rolls. It even shakes and rattles. The story is funny, the scenes are well-choreographed, the premise is captivating, and the narrative is told in a splendidly droll manner. So, if you are 10 years old, or 20, or an old geezer like me who still likes a good kick in the head every now and then, buy this book and read it. It's got balloons, diamonds, sharks, a volcano, exotic foods, fantastical houses, and stuff that will blow your mind. Now...please tell me you liked this review!

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!! THIS WAS GREAT!!!
Review: I have just about every Newbery Award winning book on my bookshelf and I've read most of them. But not all. In particular, many of the ones written before 1950 or so still need my attention. So, periodically, I try to pick up one I haven't read and give it a go. Having just finished reading Simon Winchester's Krakatoa, where he gives such a glowing report of this book, I pulled it down from the shelf.

This is a fun book. It tells the story of a retired math teacher, William Waterman Sherman, who builds a balloon to help him get away from it all by spending a year floating through the skies. Instead, he quickly finds himself downed on the island of Krakatoa where he finds a secret colony of people living quite comfortably. He joins them. Unfortunately, in a couple days, Krakatoa erupts, destroying the island almost completely. Fortunately, the colony had prepared for the chance of eruption and everyone is saved.

Published in 1947, this book is filled with a little interesting science and a lot of fantasy. If it has a weakness, it is that this book feels a little more dated than some of the other older Newbery winners. It doesn't feel dated because of its content, however, just its prose style. Its a little formal and relates a post-Victorian view of the world which many young people probably will not understand very well.

Still, I enjoyed this story and the drawings by Mr. DuBois very much. When it comes right down to it, you can hardly go wrong with a Newbery winner. Still one of the best signs of excellence in the world of fiction--for children or no.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing.
Review: My definition of a good fiction book is that it's able to persuade you that the story can really happen, even though it seems totally impossible.

By the end of this book, I was convinced for a second that Krakatoa, with its diamond mines and 'Gourmet Government' really existed. And that's pretty sad, considering that I should be too old for that kind of stuff.

THE 21 BALLOONS follows the adventures of Professor William Waterman Sherman as he tries to escape his old life of school days and bad kids. (He was a math teacher at an all-boys school. I pity him.)

He sets out in a balloon, one that has a sort of mini-house as the basket. He spends a few days happily flying around the Pacific ocean, until one day a seagull makes a hole in his balloon. He throws everything overboard, and aims to land on a small island. The island's name? Krakatoa.

He is received into the Krakatoan society, and given a share in the HUGE diamond mines that each of the twenty families on the island own. (By the way- I love the way that the society is described in the book. Very detailed. And the naming system, too... though I don't think that I would like to be called something like 'K-2'.)

The families live in great wealth and comfort, and they have a society totally based on food. Each day of the month, a different family cooks, and they all have equal shares in the mines. But everything isn't perfect...

There's a volcano on the island, one that is REALLY active. It causes the island's earth to continually move up and down in waves... a sort of blessing, and a curse, because it keeps the other people of the world away. Professor Sherman is the first person that had been to their island other than themselves, EVER.

And, of course, while Sherman is on the island, the volcano erupts. Luckily, the families all have an escape plan; a huge platform with twenty balloons attached that lifts everyone up and away from the island. Again, problem; they only have 80 parachutes. So Sherman has to try and land the huge platform...

As I said, I love this book. One of the best children's fiction stories that I've read, ever... and the magnificent sketches by Mr. du Bois that describe the island really make everything come together more.

Rating:
Summary: Creative and Imaginative
Review: Professor William Waterman Sherman leaves San Franciso and takes off in a journey to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon. But he doesn't know what adventures he will find...

He crashes into the Pacific Ocean and is washed ashore the mysterious island of Krakatoa, where people dress like millionaires. They have exotic houses from all over the world and amazing inventions. But best of all there a millions of dollars of diamonds laying in the mines.

The professor is told he can't leave the island for the rest of his life for numerous reasons. A man called Mr.F tells Professor Sherman all about the intereseting history of the Krakatoans and all about the diamonds.

Basically this book is about the island Krakatoa. William Pene du Bois must have had a very big imagination. The book was very creative and original, at least a lot different from all of the other books I've read. The only reason this doesn't get five stars is because the plot was too rushed and it should have been a bit longer.

I reccomend this book to everyone who wants to read a very fun and imaginative book. Luckily he includes some pictures about certain things (some complex).

Rating:
Summary: The Twenty One Balloons
Review: The Twenty One Balloons
William Pene du Bois
Reviewed by S.Ali
Period 6

Professor William Waterman Sherman leaves San Franciso and takes off in a journey to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon. But he doesn't know what adventures he will find. He crashes into the Pacific Ocean and is washed ashore the mysterious island of Krakatoa, where people dress like millionaires. They have exotic houses from all over the world and amazing inventions. But best of all there a millions of dollars of diamonds laying in the mines.

I liked and enjoyed this book. I liked the book mostly. His adventures take you to an Island that is really different. Just a fun book with inventions. A hot air ballon ride across the world.That's full of danger anf mystry.

I kind of dislike the book. For only one reason. That reason is because i think that the whole story seems rushed. But, other than that one thing. The story was a creative one.

My favorite part in this book. Is when Professor William Waterman Sherman's hot-air balloon pops. And he ends up on this island he never heard of. Where there are dimaond mines that are worth millions of dollars. And, he gets to share the diamonds that the Krakatoas collected. I enjoyed this book.

Rating:
Summary: Twenty One times better than the average book
Review: When Professor Sherman gives his speech to the Western American Explorers club, they know that they're in for a good story. Sherman has promised to give the details of his aborted attempt to fly around the world in a balloon. But even the most excited members of the club couldn't have anticipated a story as exciting as this.

Most of this book takes place on the island of Krakatoa, where a secret utopian society has been formed by twenty carefully chosen families of four. The details of life on this island are what sets the book apart; everything is done in a very particular, highly structured way that is presented as ideal.

A highly imaginative story, this book will keep any reader's attention, and it will raise issues for the reader that are interesting to discuss. Is this a good utopian society? What are the good and bad points of this type of life? And what type of society would you form, if given the chance?

When you're choosing a book to read, one good indicator of quality is how well a book has stood the test of time. This book has been selling strong for nearly sixty years. That's no fluke.

I should also note that the illustrations, done by the author, are extremely well-done, and really help to bring the story to life.