The Twenty One Balloons

The Twenty One Balloons

William Pene du Bois

Newberry Honor Award 1948

William Waterman Sherman: William is a very adventurous character. He likes to fly in hot air balloons. In fact his goal is to travel around the whole world in one. William is also a risk taker. Flying in a hot air balloon is very unpredictable and you never know what is going to happen. He is very patient and accepts whatever life throws at him.

Mr. F: Mr. F is a very caring and unique person. Mr. F was right there when William crashed on the mysterious island of Krakatoa and helped him adjust to there interesting way of life. Mr. F enjoys a wealthy life style with creativity and meaning. He also enjoys a lot of excitement and takes pleasure in the many extraordinary inventions that they have on the island.

Mr. M: Mr. M is the founder of the island Kraktoa. Mr. M was shipwrecked on the island because of a tremendous hurricane. When he discovered that is island was the perfect place to live because of the diamond minds and the privacy he decided that 20 other families that he chose including himself would move to this island and start there very own society.

The Authors point of view: First Person

Setting: The book takes place in San Francisco, August-October 1883. It also takes place on the island of Krakatoa in the 1880s.

Plot: A Man named William Waterman Sherman was planning on traveling around most of the world in a hot air balloon. The first couple of day went pretty good a bird came and ripped a hole in his balloon forcing him to crash on the mysterious island of Krakatoa. There and man named Mr. F helped him around the island. He showed them the pristine life style they have there. Mansions, many restaurants, and an endless amount of diamonds. William was forced to stay on the island because Mr. F was afraid he would tell someone about it. At first it was a little hard for William to get used to but as he saw the great wonders of the island he started to like the idea more and more. Days later the island shook very violently (because of the volcano) destroying mansions. The people of Krakatoa decided to use their escape plan which was a big plat form with 20 balloons. Of course they added another balloon for William. They took off and eventually all the people jumped off in there parachutes except William who was forced to land the contraption in the Atlantic Ocean because he didn’t have a parachute. IN the end people found him and rescued him and he lived to tell the story in San Francisco on September 23 1883 to the Western American Explorers’ Club.

Conflict: The Character is against nature because a bird rips a whole in his balloon forcing him to be stranded on the island of Krakatoa. This makes William very stressed and have a new opinion for birds. He also is against society for a little bit because at first he didn’t really like the idea of having to live on Krakatoa forever. But as he got used to the island he started to warm up to the new idea. William started liking the society that they have on the island.

Underlying Theme: I think the message the author was trying to convey was that you have to be patient in life and no matter where it may take you, you have to be willing to give it all you got and go at it with a positive attitude and an open heart. William didn’t know what to except while flying in the hot air balloon. I think it got him to look at life with more clarity and a little more effort. Crashing on the island was something to him and the only choice he had to was to except the fact that he may be living there forever. This message is really important so that even through hard times you get through them easier by having a positive attitude.

■ Opinion: Did you like the story: I thought the story was very entertaining but wasn’t the best book I have ever read. ■ How many stars would you give it if 1 was the worst and 5 was the best?: I would give it a 3 because although some parts were pretty good other parts were boring and hard to read. I also like reading books that are a little more realistic and this book was not. But this book was very interesting and that’s what made it exciting.

■ Award Winning: Personally I don’t understand why it would win an award. But because it did it is probably because of the creativity and knowledge that the other ties together to make this book totally improbable but at the same time you are learning about science.

■ Timeless Appeal: Do you think that this story has a timeless appeal? I think that this book would not have won the award if it was written today because its not that out of the ordinary and I didn’t think it was written very well. I think that if the book was written now many people would read it, but it just would not win and award.