The Fabulous Flight

This is perhaps my favorite Lawson fantasy and one that begs to be returned to print. As a result of an accident, young Peter P. Pepperell III ceases to grow at the age of seven, and actually begins to shrink, while getting brighter all the time. By the age of 12 he's reached literal pocket-size. His father, who works in the State Department, is delighted because Peter can now help him with his "work"--an elaborate model-train layout; his mother is disappointed at first, having always hoped that Peter would grow to be six feet plus and become a Colonel or a General like her brothers, but her husband points out that regardless of his height he might have only become a Major, a rank Mrs. Pepperell particularly loathes. Tutored at home, Peter befriends the local animals, who welcome him now that he's more their size. One day a visiting seagull, Sam, alights on the family pond, and Peter discovers the delights of flight astride his neck. Then Mr. Pepperell comes home with distressing news. A reclusive scientist in a tiny middle-European nation has invented an explosive even more fearsome than The Bomb, and the State Department desperately wants to get it away from him. As it turns out, Peter and Sam are ideally suited to the task. Mr. Pepperell crafts a fiberglass "car" that can fit on Sam's back, providing a place for Peter to sleep and keep his supplies, and the pair set off on a fabulous flight indeed. Peter and Sam are characters any kid will love, and they play off each other perfectly. Sam's slangy speech and blue-collar outlook on Europe's wonders are particularly delightful. And when they reach their goal, a surprising twist occurs that makes their mission at once easier and more difficult than they had anticipated. Humor and excitement abound in this wonderfully imaginitive book, and its rarity is a crime.