Billy Balloon is a cute book and the picture are nicely done, but I don't really care for the message. We all know that sending balloons off into the sky is dangerous and unhealthy for wildlife. If this was just a story, that would be one thing, but the author is encouraging the reader to send their own balloon off to get their own "pen pal". I can only give it 3 stars. ( )

While this story is quite delightful I can't really follow the instructions this book presents. It encourages children to release balloons into the environment despite the knowledge that is really bad for the environment. Coupled with sending out your address to whoever to start a pen pal relationship is very irresponsible. I will still read this to my child but explain why we can't do what the book suggest.

I received a copy of this book thru a LibraryThing Giveaway. Per the author notes he had created this story when he was in fourth grade. It's the story about elementary school students letting balloons go with tags attached asking the finder to write to them so they can become pen pals. The concept is cute but not a good idea. For one, animal conservationists have warned of the danger to animals, birds and sealife who find and try to eat balloons and other plastics that they find. Second, it could be dangerous for kids to correspond with someone who has not been vetted and could be hiding their identity. So while it is a nice book, encouraging kids to actually have a balloon race isn't advisable. ( )

Payton‬

Why I picked this book up: I was selected as an early reviewer for the month of March 2023 by LibraryThing.com. As a reviewer, to fulfill my part I was asked to write a review.

Thoughts: Thus book was from Page Publishing, a 38 page book pages 0-6. This author created this story in the 4th grade and put this out as a first step as an adventure to have other people of all ages to coauthor other books and this book sets up how to become pen pals. As an elementary school kid I grew up in Artesia, CA and took a balloon, wrote my phone number on a piece of paper and asked somebody to call me to let me know where the balloon ended up. One evening I recited a phone call from a man in Montebello, CA. Artesia to Montebello is 47 minutes away on line 62 bus, 16 minutes via taxi that costs $70-$90 or driving 13 miles and gas cost $3-$4 prices as if today 4/6/23.

Why I finished this read: my 9 year old daughter and I read this together. I explained my story of sending off a balloon similar to this book. It was great to hear her read it and we learned the word “adoshable” adventuring with joy and intent.

Stars rating: my daughter rated thus as a 3 out if 5 stars as it was not her favorite but also not the worst book. I will give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars as it makes an effort to have others contribute to adventuring and it has Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to follow the adventure. ( )

I won a copy of this book.

Billy Balloon is a character Jack Payton created when he was in fourth grade. Years later, during covid, Payton decided to finally publish his book and wants to share it with the world!

Billy Ballon is born in a balloon factory along with other balloons of many colors. These balloons are excited because they get be part of a elementary school race to see who can travel the farthest! When the balloons reach the school, each child (and balloon) pick a partner. The children fill out info to attach to each ballon, so that when it is found someone will write back and the kids will be pen pals. The author encourages children and their parents to try this, even including a sample of the paper to fill out and attach to the balloon.

Side note for the author: Did you grow up in Cleveland? (1986 Balloonfest for anyone interested.) ( )