The Girl Who Could Fly

Piper McCloud, Book 1

By: Victoria Forester

Narrated by: Cassandra Morris

"It's the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men. I was smiling the whole time (except for the part where I cried). I gave it to my mom, and I'm reading it to my kids - it's absolutely multigenerational. Prepare to have your heart warmed." (Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga)

You just can't keep a good girl down...unless you use the proper methods.

Piper McCloud can fly. Just like that. Easy as pie.

Sure, she hasn't mastered reverse propulsion and her turns are kind of sloppy, but she's real good at loop-the-loops.

Problem is, the good folk of Lowland County are afraid of Piper. And her ma's at her wit's end. So it seems only fitting that she leave her parents' farm to attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities.

School is great at first with a bunch of new friends whose skills range from super-strength to super-genius. (Plus all the homemade apple pie she can eat!) But Piper is special, even among the special. And there are consequences.

Consequences too dire to talk about. Too crazy to consider. And too dangerous to ignore.

At turns exhilarating and terrifying, The Girl Who Could Fly is an unforgettable story of defiance and courage about an irrepressible heroine who can, who will, who must...fly.

This title has Common Core connections.

©2008 Victoria Forester (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“It's the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men. I was smiling the whole time (except for the part where I cried). I gave it to my mom, and I'm reading it to my kids - it's absolutely multigenerational. Prepare to have your heart warmed.” (Stephenie Meyer, The Twilight Saga)

“In this terrific debut novel, readers meet Piper McCloud, the late-in-life daughter of farmers.... The story soars, just like Piper, with enough loop-de-loops to keep kids uncertain about what will come next.... Best of all are the book's strong, lightly wrapped messages about friendship and authenticity and the difference between doing well and doing good.” (Booklist, starred review)

“Forester's disparate settings (down-home farm and futuristic ice-bunker institute) are unified by the rock-solid point of view and unpretentious diction… any child who has felt different will take strength from Piper's fight to be herself against the tide of family, church, and society.” (The Horn Book Review)

Classic tale of an altruistic heroine who overcomes adversity.

I love this book! I originally read it to my kids, and I couldn’t put it down. Then we listened to the audible book recently on a road trip, and the entire car was spellbound with the twists and turns of the plot along with the truly heroic decisions of the main character. This book is a treasure!

Favorite book of ALL time

Story is amazing, favorite of all time. Narration was good, and didn’t ruin the story at all. Overall best book ever 10/10.

Old comfort book holds up

I hadn't thought about this story in years, but along with the nostalgia, I got to experience it again fresh! the voices are just perfect for reminding you that it's supposed to be children going through this, which I would always forget. the story is one that deconstructs the secret magical underworld narrative and condemns it for the nigh eugenics narrative it always seems to push. As a story where there's the obvious solution but the main character chooses kindness, it is perfect.

BEST BOOK EVER

THE BEST BOOK EVER. So exiting, so many plot twists! I suggest listening to The Girl Who Could Fly if you like a scrumptious adventure with some conflict and suspense sprinkled in the mix.
The book is expertly seasoned with exiting characters, each with their own personalities. The novel is all about the struggles of being different and finding your people.

Beautiful

When I read the book without the Audiobook it left me feeling sad. But reading with it and knowing and understanding other materials that was given to me on the subject matter it was better. Especially with the relatable characters

Veru Good

Great start to the series. The overall story and narration were good. I cant wait to listen to the other books in this series.

Conrad is so mean I hate him

Conrad is so so mean I hate hate him he should never have been born 🤬














Otherwise, it's pretty good

Inspirational and Amusing

I think most people have a desire to have a “Super Power”. I found this book thought provoking, with young children finding inspiration in their powers and how to relate with others!

A perfect book!

My daughters - ages 6 & 7
They say “This is a perfect book!”
And their mom agrees

Not bad, probably just not for everyone!

The girl time I ever read The Girl Who Could Fly was at age 10, and I've read it several times since then but it's been ~8+ years since the last time I visited this story. I'm 25 now and decided to try out the audiobook.

I didn't care for the Narrator in the beginning as I felt like the voice felt too childish/unfitting, but by the end of the book I was loving their narrating style, and I'm looking forward to the sequel book since it has the same narrator (same for the 3rd book in the series if I recall correctly). Her voice was very easy to follow along with and I liked the expressions she was able to convey from the text.

For the actual story, it's not bad but not for everyone! If you're getting this book for a child, just keep in mind that depending on how they are able to handle certain themes that they may not be able to finish the story. I personally loved this book as a child and it's what actually got me to start reading for fun as a kid after several years of struggling with books. It's a classic "kids vs adults who hate special things" story and can be a bit hard for some kids with softer hearts/minds. Piper is loud about what she believes in and voices her pains and frustrations at the injustices that come up in the book. You're not supposed to think that the adults are doing good by trying to take away their special abilities and you're meant to be scared with the kids.

I grew up in a very conservative place in WV, USA so the countryness of the main character, while extreme, didn't feel jarring to me. This is a fictional story with fictional places, and where Piper McCloud is from is purposefully meant to be cartoony and simplistic as a small country town. It's supposed to show why she didn't feel like she would fit in and also shows how unprepared her traditional family was for her arrival. The story did feel a little rushed all in all, but considering this is a children's chapter book that was originally pitched as a television series, it's not surprising how the book decided to pace itself.

If you have a child who can handle harder themes like injustice, forced drugging , depression, torture, and suicide, I do recommend checking this book out! There is a scene where two characters who were essentially disabled (one is a child who was disabled physically after being tortured, the other is a boy who had forgotten his ability) get cured. I know some disabled folks hate scenes like this, but it's not surprising to see in a childrens book. Again, as someone who WAS a child when they first discovered this book, it can be a good read for kids who are looking for age appropriate dark stories. This was nothing worse than the CSI/Bones/other crime shows I was watching at that age. If you have a child who is a more emotional reader or struggles with dark themes, this can also be a good book to practice reading boundaries with (aka, learning it's okay to stop reading/listening to a book you aren't happy with).

End of the day, I do find it frustrating seeing reviews from parents critizing points in the book that you're not supposed to agree with anyways. I saw someone get upset that kids parents didn't reach out after not receiving letters from their kids (even though, in the story many of the kids have essentially been abandoned BECAUSE their parents don't accept them), and another review upset that there was "a message to be normal" being put onto the reader, when that's literally the antagonists motives and are never seen by the protagonist as a good thing. Another parent seemed to be upset that the book portrays the government complacent in the torturing of children/other living beings in order to make them normal. The US government is why we had special schools for Native American children to essentially take them away from their culture "kill the Indian / save the child". I find it entirely believable that the government WOULD endorse and fund a program similar to I.N.S.A.N.E. It almost feels like some parents are more worried about finding morally pure stories without nuance to give to their kids instead of actually letting kids explore books that may not appear to be black/white. I saw these reviews across many different review platforms so apologies if these types of criticisms are not seen here on Audible.

This story isn't perfect, but it deserves a chance.