Sunrise, green hills, fresh breeze. A group of children each carried with colorful fabrics, like banners, and ran up the hill. This is the beginning of the story, what exactly are they doing? Are they celebrating something?

The book says,

𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺!

What does this mean?

Turning to the next page, these children are holding different materials and tools, talking to each other. It turns out that these children are making their own hot air balloons!

Look, the little boy spread the fabric and immediately cut it with scissors; the other little boy wearing glasses next to him, however, drew a sketch on white paper and sat next to the fabric, thinking hard, with scissors on his side; the little girl with blonde hair did not touch the fabric first, but followed her sketch in knitting the small basket under the hot air balloon; the little girl wearing a pink skirt and red leggings folded the fabric into small squares and slept on the small squares of fabric, resting for a while, perhaps she could figure out the look of the hot air balloon she wanted in her dream!

Soon, we all saw the children making their own hot air balloons in their own way, and still, their destination was the great unknown.

Some children like to work alone, some like to find friends to help them work with each other; some children are quietly testing their favourite colours and patterns; some children like to squeal and discuss, to speak out all the ideas in their heads, to understand themselves through sharing with others. Some children liked to test all the possibilities and were late to start working; some liked to make precise hot air balloons in a scientific way; some liked to create different mushroom hot air balloons in a creative artistic way…

Finally, a teacher came among them to explain the safety measures for lifting and lowering hot air balloons and what to look for on the journey.

The book says,

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸!

The first half of the book highlights the different qualities and talents that each child is born with, encouraging each one to be an important part of the sky, and each one is indispensable. The second half of the book encourages each of them to be friendly, compassionate, and generous, and they can be helpful, considerate, and brave too!

Finally, the author encourages each of the children to remember who they are and that this is the life they live. When you can give to others, give as much as you can. The world needs you to be yourself and live your life to the fullest!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲
Author: Joanna Gaines
Illustrator: Julianna Swaney