The Flying Bed

by Nancy Willard, John Thompson (Illustrator)

At the end of a small street in the city of Florence is a shop unlike any you have ever seen. When you walk inside, you will find a room crammed from tip to top with beds--big beds, little beds, bunk beds, junk beds, trundle beds, canopied beds, beds with four posts, beds with no posts. In the middle of the shop you will see a woman. And if she offers to show you the breathlessly beautiful carved bed in the back room, think twice before you agree to go see it. For this is no ordinary bed...

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Science Fiction Fantasy, Art

Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

NANCY WILLARD was an award-winning children's author, poet, and essayist who received the Newbery Medal in 1982 for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She wrote dozens of volumes of children's fiction and poetry, including The Flying Bed, Sweep Dreams, and Cinderella's Dress. She also authored two novels for adults, Things Invisible to See and Sister Water, and twelve books of poetry, including Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems. She lived with her husband, photographer Eric Lindbloom, and taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Reviews

[(NS) Brea M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guido has inherited the family business, a bakery in Florence, which he runs with his wife. Unlike his father, who took pride in giving customers his best, Guido scrimps on ingredients and mixes day-old cookies with fresh ones rather than cut their price. Soon poverty dogs the young couple, until Guido brings home an ornately carved bed. To their amazement, the bed flies, transporting them to a master baker, who gives them a little bag of special yeast. The bakery flourishes until Guido sells some of the yeast, and their troubles begin again. The long story is well constructed and gracefully told, and Thompson contributes a series of fine paintings, including some haunting cityscapes and several scenes of the ornately carved bed flying over the city and the countryside. Though the length of the text may limit audience appeal, this unusual picture book neatly melds magic with soft-edged realism.
~Carolyn Phelan Booklist

The Flying Bed is a long picture book geared toward older readers. Children ages 9 and up could possibly read this book independently but might not have an interest in it. Perhaps older students would enjoy the lesson of this story, which is not necessarily obvious. Perhaps children could understand the idea of greed, if it were part of a discussion. The illustrations of Florence, Italy are detailed and the drawings of the characters are very realistic.

[Katie Adee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in this book. I picked it up as an example of picture books for slightly more advanced readers as I would like to venture into this genre.

My boyfriend and I read this together. We are both college-educated (him in early education, me in English literature and writing) and enjoyed the idea of a flying bed. Very imaginative. And then, the last two pages happened and we lost the story completely. I reread the last two pages, certain I'd missed something. Now, maybe I don't have a good enough imagination to understand why the bed blessed Maria with apples for the bakery's customers that tasted like Easter bread. And maybe I'm too inflexible in my imagination to understand the significance of finding the bakery and asking the oldest daughter to open the cabinet, the middle daughter to give me a sip of cider from the goblet, and to buy a candle from the youngest daughter that is lit by the lantern (goblet and lantern gifts from bed) and how that means the author has written the story by starlight. Plus, Guido's story is completely unresolved even though he started out as the main character.

Maybe with a teacher's guidance--and a cheat sheet from the author!--this story makes sense. It's not something I would want to read again and again, and once might have been too much.

[eRin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guido is a poor baker in Florence. His father, a wildly successful baker, passed the shop down to Guido; but Guido cannot bake like his father. Things get worse every day and Guido cannot even afford to buy a winter coat. He slowly sells off funiture, including the bed. His wife, Maria, has had enough. She works hard all day long and must have a bed. She insists that Guido replace the bed. Guido cannot believe his luck when he discovers a bed shop with the most beautiful bed ever--and the shopkeeper gives it to him for free! But this bed is special and quite mysterious--what will happen to Guido and Maria when they fly through the air on their bed?

I really wanted to like this. But I really didn't. I didn't like Guido's character at all. Maria was okay, but nothing extraordinary. I wasn't awed by the paintings like I hoped I would be. And ultimately, I didn't think that the couple deserve the ending they got.

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd little book which has more text than the average picture book. It tells the story of a baker and his wife who live in Florence, Italy. The baker has inherited the shop from his father who was an excellent baker, the son does not have the same talent. The couple purchases a magic bed which takes them to a strange place. There, they are given magic yeast. The yeast raises the son’s skills to the level of his father’s baking skills, but he sells the magic yeast and his shop is once again a failure. The wife flies away on the magic bed to prevent her husband from chopping it into firewood. The book abruptly ends as it shifts into a quick tale about daughters inheriting the shop. Lovely story that seems to me to be missing pieces.

Hamilton King Award

[Sem · Rating 1 out of 5]

If Maria had any sense she'd have taken the bed and left that jerk, Guido. What a disappointment.

[Rachael Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrations were paintings and were absolutely beautiful. Interesting story of hard work and a little magic for a young couple with a struggling bread business.

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the illustrations in this book and felt like I was in Florence. I would have given it 4 stars, but the ending was strange and did not make much sense.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book cause I saw that it took place in Florence, but it was really disappointing. I didn’t really like it at all.

[Uri Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stars for the story, but five stars for the amazing illustrations!

[JKR · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very disjointed ending mars what might have been a serviceable story.

[Karima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing story. Seemed to be missing text. As I would turn from one page to another I would double-check to see if perhaps two pages had stuck together and I had missed something, but not the case.
Just did a bread unit with my kindergarteners and thought this story might be a nice close but I won'r use it, even though the illustrations are quite nice (though did not knock my socks off) and very much like the idea of magic yeast.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the photo-like illustrations-they create a very realistic feel. I can really see why Thompson won the Hamilton King Award for Best Illustration of the Year for one of them. If you have younger ones do keep in mind that this story has a lot of text (a lot) and may not hold their attention for the duration of the story. The photos are stunning though.

[Chenoa Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Florence inherits his family's bakery, but not the talent. He gets an enchanted bed which flies him around to other famous bakeries. When he gets some magical yeast and his bakery starts to become successful, he gets greedy and wants more than he should have. This is a great book to show how greed can turn into a bad situation.
-Good read for students 3rd to 5th grade.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only thing decent about this book were the illustrations. I don't understand how this book is award winning. The story doesn't engage. In fact, it is downright, unengaging, drawn out and boring.

[Gina Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://ginasblogging.blogspot.com/200...

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture Book. A good story about a baker who needs help in his endeavors and a flying bed that has the answer. The pictures are really good.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book for a library addition. I have yet to think of possibles was to utilize in lessons beyond LA. I recommend this book for 3rd-5th grades.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and original story. Art work was good.

[Tori Fullmer]

Picture book. A poor baker's business suffers until he takes a trip on a magical bed. Though he betrays his secret, his wife's trust of the bed saves their shop.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others have said, this book was right on track to me giving it five stars, until the ending happened, leaving me going "wait, what?" Gorgeous paintings of Florence, though!

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations were paintings and some of them look like photographs. They are gorgeous! The story is about a lesson in hard work and how not to be greedy! (Library sale book/gift for my niece)