Friday , March 29 2024
A vividly illustrated book demonstrating the importance of make-believe.

Book Review: ‘Fantastic Flight’ by Barbara Bockman

Reading Barbara Bockman’s award-winning Fantastic Flight afforded me a trip back to memory lane. The book reminded me of one very important period in my life, raising three children and allowing them to engage in constructive make-believe play.

Barbara’s book brought a huge smile to my face because it chronicles the importance of make-believe play. After spending one night at Grandma and Grandpa, little Jessica becomes homesick. Grandma suggests that Grandpa takes Jessica on an outing. What follows is a fantastic outing that will help Jessica forget about being homesick.

Having minored in child psychology, I learned that make-believe play is essential for all children. Pretend play has many cognitive advantages. Constructive playtime may include cognitive skills such as decision-making, and problem solving. More importantly, imaginative play helps children develop their imagination and motor skills.

One very important thing for all parents to understand is a child can’t develop motor skills by being sedentary. Getting up and moving around and actively engaging in play is the only way a child will be able to develop motor skills.

Some experts believe child obesity is on the rise because too many kids spend too much time watching TV and playing video games. Pretend play is very healthy and it is risk-free allowing children to venture out in a creative way.

The vivid illustrations by Jack Foster drew me in right away. Fantastic Flight is a great book that both adults and children will enjoy reading. The book can be a great resource for parents and teachers to teach children about the endless possibilities of pretend play.

To learn more about Barbara Bockman please visit her website.

To check out more about her award-winning book please visit here.

About Nicole Weaver

Nicole Weaver is an award-winning author. Her first trilingual book Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle was published in 2009. Her love for languages and other cultures resulted in publishing the award-winning book, My Sister Is My Best Friend which was published in 2011 by Guardian Angel Publishing. My Sister Is My Best Friend has won the following awards: 2012 Creative Child Awards Program consisting of moms and educators has awarded this book the 2012 PREFERRED CHOICE AWARD Kids Picture Storybooks category. 2012 Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval 2012 Children's Literary Classics Gold Award Readers' Favorite 5 Star Review Her newest book , My Brother Is My Best Friend was also published by Guardian Angel Publishing, January 2014.

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5 comments

  1. Penelope Anne Cole

    Great post, Nicole, about Barbara’s fun book! I reviewed it, too. Make-believe is wonderful creative play.

  2. I LOVE that cover! Magical and fun. Thanks for the fun review.

  3. Janet Ann Collins

    That book sounds like fun. I remember pretending things all the time when I was a kid.

  4. Often parents don’t see reading books as creative play but my daughter and I will read it with her favourite big dollby her side and she loves it!

  5. Hi
    Nicole,

    Thank
    you very much for this great review of FANTASTIC FLIGHT. I’m glad that you and
    I share the same wonderful publisher, Lynda S. Burch, at Guardian Angel
    Publishing.

    I
    was ill when this review came out, so I did not see it at the time. But I’m
    glad we also share the belief that imaginative play is very important for young
    children. I engaged in a lot of it when I was a child. Perhaps some of that is
    coming out in my writing.

    Barbara