The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice and Martin Provensen

The Glorious Flight tells of Louis Bleriot who persevered through the invention of several different airplanes to find one that would fly well. After 8 years, he successfully flies over the English Channel from France to England. The book won a Caldecott Medal for the illustrations.

Honestly, I found the text of this book bothersome. Sentences were choppy, many sentences included paranthetical sidenotes that broke up the flow, and too many sentences were fragments. At times, I think the style would have been appropriate. During the dangerous parts, like when he is flying over the channel or getting ready to crash yet another plane, I think it would set the mood, like with Paulsen's choppy sentences in Woodsong. But, almost all of the text was written in that style. As a result, it just seemed too choppy and disjointed. I think children would have difficulty reading this book because the sentence structure is so strange, but I don't think it would be appropriate for a read aloud either, for the exact same reason.

I find it interesting that I could dislike the text of a picturebook so much when the illustrations have been celebrated.