Close inspection of the text and illustrations provides subtle links to World War One and ancient Greece, in particular the story of Icarus, as well as strong links to the DT curriculum. Using photographic collage and illustration, this is the first book that Grahame has both written and illustrated and the results are amazing. A son remembers his father - his dreams of being able to fly as well as spending time together until one day the war takes him away forever. For many books these two points would cause me to only give a single star rating, so the fact I still rate this at 4 stars say something about how good it is.

The unique illustrations have an almost eerie feel to them, which adds to the intrigue and questions that the story raises - for example, as I read the book I kept wondering why the father wanted to have wings, and what was driving his desire to fly away. Themes such as war, love, death and dreams could all be discussed as a class and the book deals with each of these very sensitively which justifies the recommended reading age of 5+.

It could be used as a starting point for pieces of writing, either following on the story or by taking an image and creating a different story.

Much later, the boy, now a young man, finds himself drawn once more to his father's drawings and failed experiments. Winner of the 2012 Greenaway award, this truly is an inspirational story showing how any dream can be fulfilled with love and motivation. It is beautifully designed with a wealth of detail, conveying dark emotions, storms of war and weather, and a powerful sense of loss and bereavement. The style of illustration in this book, a mix of artwork, photographs in a collage come together to create a most unusual picture book which explores the relationship between father and son in a particularly poetic and elegant way', Librarymice. Yet the moving relationship between father and son has a bitter sweet legacy and one that carries through to the next generation.

In the classroom, I would not use this book with kindergartners or first grade, but 2nd grade might be an acceptable age. The worthy winner of the Kate Greenaway Award, announced yesterday, is this stunning and highly imaginative picture book .