Hot Air Balloon Day
The CBC Holidays Series explores stories that relate to specific holidays so that readers of all ages can celebrate in the best way… with a good book!
Today is Balloon Ascension Day, celebrating the first successful hot air balloon flight in North America. With warmer air weighing less than cooler air, hot air balloons can float up, move in any direction, and speed up or slow down as needed. Even in this age of planes, helicopters, and spaceships, the beauty and majesty of the hot air balloon is a thing of wonder. Let’s celebrate the hot air balloons with books.
Cinco semanas en globo / Five Weeks in a Balloon, by Julio Verne (Penguin Random House / Molino) — Fiction, Picture Book, Spanish, Action / Adventure, Series, ages 7-12.
Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon, by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey (Clarion Books) — Fiction, Picture Book, Animals, Action / Adventure, Series, ages 4-6.
Flight for Freedom: The Wetzel Family’s Daring Escape from East Germany, by Kristen Fulton; illus. Torben Kuhlmann (Chronicle Books) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, History, Action / Adventure, ages 4-6.
The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Hot-Air Baboons (The Flying Beaver Brothers Book 5), by Maxwell Eaton, III (Penguin Young Readers / Knopf Books for Young Readers) — Fiction, Graphic Novel, Science, Animals, Humor, ages 7-12.
High Times: A History of Aviation, by Golden Cosmos (Nobrow) — Nonfiction, Novelty / Pop-Up, History, Science, Series, ages 4-6.
The Hot Air Balloon Book: Build and Launch Kongming Lanterns, Solar Tetroons, and More, by Clive Catterall (Chicago Review Press) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, Science, Series, ages 7-12.
Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride, written and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman (Simon & Schuster / Atheneum Books for Young Readers) — Fiction, Picture Book, Historical Fiction, Action / Adventure, ages 4-6.
Max Tilt: 80 Days or Die, by Peter Lerangis (HarperCollins) — Fiction, Prose, Action / Adventure, Historical Fiction, Series, ages 7-12.
Milestones of Flight: From Hot-Air Balloons to SpaceShipOne, by Tim Grove and National Air and Space Museum (ABRAMS) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, History, Science, ages 7-12.
Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption, by José Domingo (Nobrow / Flying Eye Books) — Fiction, Picture Book, Action / Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, ages 4-6.
Raccoon and the Hot Air Balloon, by Jill Atkins; illus. Kristen Humphrey (Lerner Publishing Group / Maverick Arts) — Fiction, Picture Book, Animals, Concepts, ages 4-6.
The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck, written and illustrated by Matt Phelan (HarperCollins / Greenwillow Books) — Fiction, Picture Book, Animals, Action / Adventure, Humor, ages 7-12.
Things That Go, by Disney Book Group (Disney Book Group) — Fiction, Novelty / Pop-Up, Animals, Concepts, Series, ages 0-3.
Through The Storm (Chasing Helicity, Book 3), by Ginger Zee (Disney Book Group) — Fiction, Prose, Action / Adventure, Series, ages 7-12.
Up and Away!: How Two Brothers Invented the Hot-Air Balloon, by Jason Henry (Union Square Kids) — Nonfiction, Picture Book, Biography / Memoir, History, Science, ages 4-6.
Celebrate Balloon Ascension Day by reading a book!
List compiled by CBC’s resident holiday expert, Sommer Wissner. Check out other CBC Holiday book lists on our blog.
