Vel autem beatae unde cum.

The illustrations are nothing to write home about but I suppose the simpleness of the art works with the story in a way. (I will admit that the drawings of the ducks and others without wings are some of the cutest images I've ever seen.) The story itself is rather beautiful. When God first created the world, before the winged creatures we know had their wings, there was a little boy. No one knows where he came from or why he did what he did. A few ideas are mentioned in the story, among them the idea that possibly God "forgot" to give these creatures their wings and sent the little boy to do so, that the little boy was born inside a flower one morning, etc. It's never directly said and is left to the readers imagination which I liked very much. The little boy covers the world over, handing out all sorts of different wings to different creatures. His bag of wings never empties. Another special part of the book for me and Julia (she didn't like the beginning she said but by this time was fully invested) was about how the animals reciprocated. The nightingale sang him a song. The bullfinch gave him a wink. And so on and so on. Very nice chance for discussions about how "thanks" don't always have to be in the form we may want them to be. After all of the animals and insects that we know with wings had their nice, shiny, new wings, the little wing giver grew tired and stopped to rest. The wind had grown jealous of the wings given out so he took the basket and blew it out into the ocean. The story goes on to say that those wings, stirring and mixing in the ocean water, are what gives the oceans it's rushing waves. The wings are trying to raise themselves to fly away... and can't. The little boy is filled with sadness when he wakes to find his basket of wings missing. A caterpillar helps him put things into perspective. 'Instead of thinking about what you *can't* do, think about what you *can* do.' One of the poppy flowers hears this exchange and offers the petal