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The Fabulous Flight
Peter Peabody Pepperell, who has shrunk to a tiny size, takes off on an adventure on the back of his seagull friend Gus.
151 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
1 person is currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Robert Lawson
121 books77 followersBorn in New York City, Lawson spent his early life in Montclair, New Jersey. Following high school, he studied art for three years under illustrator Howard Giles (an advocate of dynamic symmetry as conceived by Jay Hambidge) at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now Parsons School of Design), marrying fellow artist and illustrator Marie Abrams in 1922. His career as an illustrator began in 1914, when his illustration for a poem about the invasion of Belgium was published in Harper's Weekly. He went on to publish in other magazines, including the Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine, Century Magazine, Vogue, and Designer.
During World War I, Lawson was a member of the first U.S. Army camouflage unit (called the American Camouflage Corps), in connection with which he served in France with other artists, such as Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, William Twigg-Smith and Kerr Eby. In his autobiography, Faulkner recalls that Lawson had a remarkable "sense of fantasy and humor", which made him especially valuable when the camoufleurs put on musical shows for the children of the French women who worked with them on camouflage
After the war, Lawson resumed his work as an artist, and in 1922, illustrated his first children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat. Subsequently he illustrated dozens of children's books by other authors, including such well-known titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (which later became an animated film by the Walt Disney Studios) and Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. In total, he illustrated as many as forty books by other authors, and another seventeen books that he himself was author of, including Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos and Rabbit Hill. His work was widely admired, and he became the first, and so far only, person to be given both the Caldecott Medal (They Were Strong and Good, 1941) and the Newbery Medal (Rabbit Hill, 1945). Ben and Me earned a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1961.
Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children's fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person's life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd's Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate's ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.
In the early 1930s, Lawson became interested in etching. One of the resulting prints was awarded the John Taylor Arms Prize by the Society of American Etchers.
Lawson died in 1957 at his home in Westport, Connecticut, in a house that he referred to as Rabbit Hill, since it had been the setting for his book of the same name. He was 64. He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. An annual conference is held in his honor in Westport.
The Robert Lawson Papers are in the University of Minnesota Children's Literature Research Collections.
During World War I, Lawson was a member of the first U.S. Army camouflage unit (called the American Camouflage Corps), in connection with which he served in France with other artists, such as Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, William Twigg-Smith and Kerr Eby. In his autobiography, Faulkner recalls that Lawson had a remarkable "sense of fantasy and humor", which made him especially valuable when the camoufleurs put on musical shows for the children of the French women who worked with them on camouflage
After the war, Lawson resumed his work as an artist, and in 1922, illustrated his first children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat. Subsequently he illustrated dozens of children's books by other authors, including such well-known titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (which later became an animated film by the Walt Disney Studios) and Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. In total, he illustrated as many as forty books by other authors, and another seventeen books that he himself was author of, including Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos and Rabbit Hill. His work was widely admired, and he became the first, and so far only, person to be given both the Caldecott Medal (They Were Strong and Good, 1941) and the Newbery Medal (Rabbit Hill, 1945). Ben and Me earned a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1961.
Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children's fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person's life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd's Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate's ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.
In the early 1930s, Lawson became interested in etching. One of the resulting prints was awarded the John Taylor Arms Prize by the Society of American Etchers.
Lawson died in 1957 at his home in Westport, Connecticut, in a house that he referred to as Rabbit Hill, since it had been the setting for his book of the same name. He was 64. He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. An annual conference is held in his honor in Westport.
The Robert Lawson Papers are in the University of Minnesota Children's Literature Research Collections.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 30, 2018
Even though this came out years ago, it was re-released and I received an ARC on NetGalley.
Cute story. I could see how young readers would enjoy it. A story that can be read one chapter at a time or enjoyed straight through.
Cute story. I could see how young readers would enjoy it. A story that can be read one chapter at a time or enjoyed straight through.
May 16, 2010
I was a young boy in a small prairie town called Lloydminster. It straddles the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. I lived in Alberta. The library was in Saskatchewan. I spent many hours there. One of the books I read was called The Fabulous Flight by Robert Lawson. I loved this book because it appealed to my love of distant places, even though I hadn't really been anywhere. I guess it also appealed to my feelings of being an outsider, like this kid was. I used to imagine the world through this kid's eyes. I found a copy of the book on line and I hope that one day my grandson will love it as much as I do.
February 21, 2014
I loved this book when I was young. Recently I borrowed it from the library and read it again. It's just a great book with such cute illustrations. Even today it's entrancing.
March 17, 2019
A tiny yet heroic boy and Gus, his gull companion, save the world from a weapon more potent than the A bomb. Lawson's adventure fantasy heralds the cold war, although (spoiler alert) the bad guys turn out not to be Russian communists. The drawings are as always, crisp and delightful. Lawson's work makes me think of the paintings of Norman Rockwell, rendered in pen and ink instead of oil.
Both artists celebrate the glories and strengths of post WW11 America with a straight, un-ironic enthusiasm.
Both artists celebrate the glories and strengths of post WW11 America with a straight, un-ironic enthusiasm.
February 27, 2016
when i was little, i read this ten times
when i went back to the library thirty years later, it was still there. :D
So i read it again, and the feeling was delight
when i went back to the library thirty years later, it was still there. :D
So i read it again, and the feeling was delight
August 14, 2017
This book is a fabulous flight. One of the very best and most unforgettable books of my childhood.
December 30, 2025
Robert Lawson is perhaps best known as an illustrator of children's books, although he wrote a number of children's books as well, which he also illustrated. There's Rabbit Hill, Ben and Me, and The Great Wheel, along with many others. Many of his books are retellings (for children) of famous individuals from the perspective of an animal with which they interact in the book.
Fabulous Flight is a fanciful tale of a boy who following a fall from a tree experiences a reversal of some gland in his chest (the pitulio phalangic gland?) begins to grow smaller, although apparently continues to mature. This mostly bothers his mother because she had hoped he would grow up to be a six foot tall colonel, but his father consoles her by telling her that Peter might only have become a Major and his mother despises Majors.
Peter, when he attains a height of four inches tall, begins to interact with the animal denizens in the area, including a rabbit named Buck and a sea gull named Gus.
His father informs his family one evening of a dangerous scientist in eastern Europe who has invented an explosive device more powerful than nuclear weapons. It is at this point that Peter suggests that he and Gus go to Zargonia and steal the weapon (which is fortunately tiny) and bring it back to the United States.
The rest of the book involves their travels to Europe, infiltration of the castle where the mad scientist lives, and return to Maryland.
The book is told in a whimsical way, gently poking fun at a number of different things. For instance, when Peter suggests his plan to steal the weapon, his father states that there a couple of problems with the plan, one of which is that it isn't expensive enough -- if the plan cost a few million or better yet, a billion dollars, it would be much more likely to fly.
In another scene, Gus and Peter visit that Capitol and get lightheaded when they stand to close to a vent that is pulling off the hot air from discussion in the Senate.
The illustrations are well done. Robert Lawson seemed to specialize in pen and ink illustrations with lots of detail.
I read it to my children and they enjoyed the story. Certainly, there is some need to suspend disbelief, but that's true with many children's books -- talking animals, small people, and bombs the size of a grain of sugar are not unusual, even if we don't see these things in ordinary life.
Fabulous Flight is a fanciful tale of a boy who following a fall from a tree experiences a reversal of some gland in his chest (the pitulio phalangic gland?) begins to grow smaller, although apparently continues to mature. This mostly bothers his mother because she had hoped he would grow up to be a six foot tall colonel, but his father consoles her by telling her that Peter might only have become a Major and his mother despises Majors.
Peter, when he attains a height of four inches tall, begins to interact with the animal denizens in the area, including a rabbit named Buck and a sea gull named Gus.
His father informs his family one evening of a dangerous scientist in eastern Europe who has invented an explosive device more powerful than nuclear weapons. It is at this point that Peter suggests that he and Gus go to Zargonia and steal the weapon (which is fortunately tiny) and bring it back to the United States.
The rest of the book involves their travels to Europe, infiltration of the castle where the mad scientist lives, and return to Maryland.
The book is told in a whimsical way, gently poking fun at a number of different things. For instance, when Peter suggests his plan to steal the weapon, his father states that there a couple of problems with the plan, one of which is that it isn't expensive enough -- if the plan cost a few million or better yet, a billion dollars, it would be much more likely to fly.
In another scene, Gus and Peter visit that Capitol and get lightheaded when they stand to close to a vent that is pulling off the hot air from discussion in the Senate.
The illustrations are well done. Robert Lawson seemed to specialize in pen and ink illustrations with lots of detail.
I read it to my children and they enjoyed the story. Certainly, there is some need to suspend disbelief, but that's true with many children's books -- talking animals, small people, and bombs the size of a grain of sugar are not unusual, even if we don't see these things in ordinary life.
May 3, 2018
I've read a bunch of children's book and though I don't count myself an expert (for that I go to my son who's following along the lines as I read) and there is one really big problem with this book. Most kids don't want to grow SMALLER, they want to grow BIGGER.
When I first read through the synopsis, and I must admit I also loved the cover art so there goes my initial attraction, I gave into hoping for the adventure part to compensate for it. But I must say that from the very beginning, we got kind of hung up on that...Wait, but the boy is small now...he can't do this and that...yes, but he can...OK, but he's small now forever?
And so it wasn't such a smooth ride at all. And this wasn't going to become a favorite.
Other than that, I liked Robert Lawson's imagination. Writing not so much. I've read nicer and more magical styles written for YA and this is a children's book. Kids - at least as much as I know from teaching English to children and reading to my own son - don't go for big fancy words so much as "show, don't tell." And while pictures and explanations help, their attention span is short and you can lose them quickly even with one page sans magic or action.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
When I first read through the synopsis, and I must admit I also loved the cover art so there goes my initial attraction, I gave into hoping for the adventure part to compensate for it. But I must say that from the very beginning, we got kind of hung up on that...Wait, but the boy is small now...he can't do this and that...yes, but he can...OK, but he's small now forever?
And so it wasn't such a smooth ride at all. And this wasn't going to become a favorite.
Other than that, I liked Robert Lawson's imagination. Writing not so much. I've read nicer and more magical styles written for YA and this is a children's book. Kids - at least as much as I know from teaching English to children and reading to my own son - don't go for big fancy words so much as "show, don't tell." And while pictures and explanations help, their attention span is short and you can lose them quickly even with one page sans magic or action.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
July 29, 2018
I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn’t. I expect that some children would like it more, because they would enjoy the adventure of Peter and Gus winging off to Europe on a dangerous mission all on their own. Unfortunately I found Lawson’s inconsistencies in relation to Peter’s small size distracting when compared to other children’s books about tiny people or people-like animals (Stuart Little) where the difficulties of coping with their size are addressed. As I say, some children would be fine with ignoring these issues, but others would be distracted much as I was. I love others of Lawson’s books but I don’t feel this one is of the caliber of Rabbit Hill and Ben and me.
November 4, 2018
Enjoyable fantastic (in its original sense) tale of how young Peter Peabody Pepperell saved the world. When he was seven years old, Peter suddenly began shrinking, and eventually was only a few inches tall, which meant he could ride on a tame rabbit or a seagull. This ability made him the perfect candidate to perform a secret mission, and retrieve a very dangerous substance from a mad scientist. The story is well written, in such a way that it all seems perfectly believable; and in addition, it is well imbued with a somewhat sly sense of humor. Highly recommended.
January 5, 2020
Fanciful and fun. Echoes of 1949 - and dangerous, humanity-threatening bombs that will end the world. Also funny how "Zargonia" is just in eastern Europe...definitely Russia and the communists. Certainly dated in a couple of ways...but liked how Gus the seagull hated the pollution of London. I also liked the marching skunks.
June 23, 2021
amusing, fun adventure - flying on the back of a seagull
October 30, 2021
I remember loving this story when I was about 10 years old. I found an out of print copy online and reread it this week. The story is still as engaging as I remember. As a adult, I understand more of the author's tongue in cheek humor. As a child of the Cold War, this book was especially appealing to me.
March 12, 2016
I had to do some lifting to get a copy of this book - it's long out of print - but I have been such a fan of Robert Lawson's for so long, I was certain buying a collector's copy from Amazon would be worth it.
It wasn't, other than now I HAVE read it, and will be curious about it no longer. Unless you're a Lawson completist, it's not worth the time.
It wasn't, other than now I HAVE read it, and will be curious about it no longer. Unless you're a Lawson completist, it's not worth the time.
July 25, 2008
This was one of John's favorite books. I read it many times and then he read it again when he could read.
September 18, 2008
I want to read it again! Five stars, absolutely!
April 22, 2009
even if its a kids book, its still amazing
December 9, 2010
Our librarian read this to my class in grade school. Awesome! I couldn't wait for library period.
August 28, 2009
Good book for anyone.
April 22, 2018
A deightful, fantastical, classic tale for children.
Peter Peter Peeabody Pepperell III was a normal boy. Then one day he stopped growing up, and started growing down. As he became smaller and smaller, his parents remove him from school for his safety, because he is just too small. But as small as he is, he is not too small to team up with friendly seagull Gus, and depart on the most adventurous flight!
The illustrations are whimsical and wonderfully detailed.
This book would make for wonderful bedtime reading to a child who, although perhaps old enough to read to themselves, still alows someone to read to them. I say this because having been written so long ago, some aspects of the story may need some minor interpretation. For example, I doubt many young children today would know what a "phonograph" is. This by no means detracts from the story though! I for one, enjoy bedtime story bonding with my son, and will probably be reading him this story some time in the not so very distant future.
Peter Peter Peeabody Pepperell III was a normal boy. Then one day he stopped growing up, and started growing down. As he became smaller and smaller, his parents remove him from school for his safety, because he is just too small. But as small as he is, he is not too small to team up with friendly seagull Gus, and depart on the most adventurous flight!
The illustrations are whimsical and wonderfully detailed.
This book would make for wonderful bedtime reading to a child who, although perhaps old enough to read to themselves, still alows someone to read to them. I say this because having been written so long ago, some aspects of the story may need some minor interpretation. For example, I doubt many young children today would know what a "phonograph" is. This by no means detracts from the story though! I for one, enjoy bedtime story bonding with my son, and will probably be reading him this story some time in the not so very distant future.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews