Fly Away

By Patricia MacLachlan

From the Newbery Award–winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall comes a story about one brave girl who saves her family from losing everything. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls this lyrical tale “melodic, poetic, and enchanting.”

Everyone in Lucy’s family sings. Opera. Rap. Lullabies. Everyone, except Lucy. Lucy can’t sing; her voice won’t come out.

Just like singing, helping Aunt Frankie prepare for flooding season is a family tradition—even if Frankie doesn’t want the help. And this year, when the flood arrives and danger finds its way into the heart of Lucy’s family, Lucy will need to find her voice to save her brother.

“Filled with little moments of quiet wisdom and gentle humor, Newbery winner MacLachlan's story about family love soars” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Release date: Apr 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781442460102

Patricia MacLachlan

Patricia MacLachlan (1938-2022) was the celebrated author of many timeless books for young readers, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal. She was also the author of many beloved picture books, a number of which she cowrote with her daughter, Emily.

Book preview

chapter 1

Secrets

We drive across the Minnesota prairie in our old tan and green Volkswagen bus. My father does not believe in new cars. He loves the old Volkswagen with the top that pops up like a tent. He can take the motor apart and fix it himself.

In the way back are neat wooden framed beds for sleeping. In a pen are Mama’s chickens: Ella, Sofia, and Nickel. Mama loves them and never goes away for long without them. My younger sister, Grace, sits in her car seat next to me. In back of her is Teddy, the youngest, with his stuffed beaver.

My father, called Boots because he wears them, is driving, listening to opera on the radio. It is La Traviata.

Misterioso, misterioso altero . . .

I know it well. If a conductor dropped dead on stage I could climb up there and conduct.

Now here is something abnormal. I can’t sing. When I open my mouth nothing happens. I know the music, but I can’t sing it. I can only conduct it.

My father went to Harvard. His parents expected him to be a banker like his father. In secret he planned to be a poet.

But then he discovered cows. He became a farmer.

He loves cows.

They are poetry, Lucy, he tells me. I can’t write anything better than a cow.

Maggie, my mother in the front seat, wears headphones. I know she is listening to Langhorne Slim. She loves Langhorne Slim as much as my father loves opera. And I know her secret. She would like to sing like Langhorne Slim. She would like to be Langhorne Slim.

If you’ve got worries, then you’re like me.

Don’t worry now, I won’t hurt you.

My younger sister, Gracie, ignores the opera and my mother’s bopping around in the front seat. Gracie sings in a high perfect voice, fluttering her hands like birds.

"The birdies fly away, and they come back home.

The birdies fly away, and they come back home."

I turn and look at my little brother, Teddy. He smiles at me and I know what that smile is all about.

In his small head he is singing the Fly Away chorus in private so no one can hear.

Fly away, fly away,

All the birdies fly away.

I smile back at him.

This is our secret because Teddy wants it that way.

I have known for a long time that Teddy can sing perfectly in tune even though he is not yet two. We all know he doesn’t speak words yet. But only Teddy and I know that he sings. He doesn’t sing the words, but sings every song with la la la. He sings to me every night, climbing out of his bed, padding into my room in the dark. He sings a peppy Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, ending with a Yay at the end with his hands in the air.

"La La La La

LaLaLaLaLa.

Yay!"

He sings a soft, quiet All the Pretty Horses. La, la, la.

I made a mistake

Reviews for Fly Away

[Line Otukolo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting my daughter six years old like this story he read by him self

[Sandy Stukel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book it was so good. I like teddy the most he is adventurous.

[Kylee Jindra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

LOVE IT!!!its so cool!!great job!!!❤️❤️❤️hahaha heheh lol

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lucy and her family are headed to help her aunt. It is flooding around her aunt's house and Lucy's family wants to help. Great and memorable characters in the story, all with a bit of a stubborn Midwestern quality that makes them endearing. Lucy's brother is two but doesn't talk yet...or so her parents think. Lucy's mother has aspirations that have not been met and is a little disappointed with how life has turned out. Lucy herself doesn't sing and that's another sadness for her mother. A complex story perfect for a young reader.

[bookwren · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As in her other recent novellas - Waiting for the Magic; The True Gift; Kindred Spirits; The Truth of Me - Patricia MacLachlan exquisitely portrays family dynamics through the eyes of children. These stories are like comfort food, especially for spirits starved for the kinder side of life.

[sarahgracegrzy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Profound whimsicality.

Is that oxymoronic, you ask? I think not, at least not when in reference to any of Patricia MacLachlan's works.

I am blown away by each of the books I read by MacLachlan. They are absolutely beautiful, from the gorgeous cover illustrations, to the story, to the sentence structure and writing style, all down to the formatting. MacLachlan is the master of doing incomplete sentences beautifully, capturing the whimsicality of life, and dropping profound, heartfelt and heartwarming themes throughout. By far the best children's author I have ever read. And one of the most wonderful things about her writing, is that while they are intended for children, they are enjoyable by all ages, which is what makes them so phenomenal.

Highly recommended!

[Ritu · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

It is very bad app. It is for purchasing, ? shit ,,,,,!!,

[christianr_899499 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a little too melodramatic to me. Lucy and her family drive to see their Aunt Frankie, whose lives in North Dakota where the river floods every year, threatening her house. The family is going to help her, even if she doesn't want it.
Everybody has a thing. Lucy writes poetry but can't sing, her sister Gracie can draw, her baby brother Teddy doesn't talk yet but hums in perfect pitch to Lucy (only) every night, her father loves cows and her mother loves chickens. They're all somewhat one-dimensional in my mind. When Teddy is lost and they are looking for him, Lucy's singing, bad as it is, gets him to sing back so they can find him.
I know it's for young children, but I think it could have been more complex.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Newbery award-winning author never fails to produce a well-written, softly emotional book that leaves the reader smiling.

Fly Away is told from the perspective of the middle child, a young girl who loves her family, and is extremely bonded with her small brother. Longing to be able to sing, Maggie's secret is that she knows while her brother is slow in learning to talk, he can communicate with her through singing. Late at night, she hears his soft voice and intuitively connects to him.

Later, it is Maggie's bond that enables her to sing to her brother when he is in peril, thus saving his life.

When a beloved Aunt needs assistance because her farm is hit hard by a mega storm, the family drives many miles to help. The beauty of MacLachlan's writing is that amid the storm, she focus' on the calm.

While short in pages, this book is long on touching the soul.

Highly recommended!