a nice story, which goes around of the world ( )

Written by a German author of children's books, this is the story of a little old man, a reclue, who write stories about people. He sends these stories off in a hot-air balloon in the hopes that they will travel full circle, be discovered, and come back to him. Wherever the stories land is where he will choose the setting for them. The stories return to him from postmarks around the world, giving him, what seem, to be the perfect settings. Good for 4th-5th grade. Not fast paced. ( )

lovely, lovely little book about 175 pages. very reminiscent of The Little Prince in some ways and A Wrinkle in Time in others. written for children, but a great read for adults too!

since it is such a short read, I’ll save it all for you to discover on your own. ( )

A framed narrative featuring Bambert, a lonely invalid, who survives by writing stories. For the last chapter of his Book of Wishes, he wants a true story, which means a story that has gone out in the world and been re-written by real people. So he uses balloons to set his stories free and waits for them to return, one by one, from the world. And they do -- from Ireland, Russia, Spain, Poland, France, Germany, Bosnia, England, and Italy -- and we get to read them. However, the truth is that Mr. Bloom who lives downstairs and takes care of Bambert has been using his stamp collection to make it seem that the stories have come back from all over the world. In the end Bambert dies by falling out of the window while trying to recover his 11th balloon. Mr. Bloom writes the last story in which Bambert is reunited with his beloved characters.

See this Booktrusted (UK) webpage on ideas for using this book in classrooms:
http://www.booktrusted.co.uk/education/education_doc_full.php4?itemid=7&sect... ( )