Why Can T I Fly

On these pages are random thoughts about life, love, and despair, and some happy thoughts, dedicated to all of those unknown poets, who can rhyme moon with June, but can never get their lives to rhyme.

Ostrich can't fly and he wants to know why. Sparrow tries to explain but it makes no sense to Ostrich, who is determined, one way or another, to spread his wings.

During the days of Cowboys and Indians, there was a tribe of Navajo Indians that lived in a valley below a mountain called UnicornMountain. The Indians named the mountain UnicornMountain because the mountain is where all the Unicorns gathered. There was a little Indian boy who was curious as to what a unicorn was. He thought that a unicorn was the same thing as a horse. They looked the same, but the unicorn has a horn. One day the little Indian boy went up the mountain to see for himself what a unicorn is. The baby unicorn and little Indian boy met, and became the best of friends. They became so close that they started calling each other brother and sister. The little Indian would try to coach the baby unicorn how to fly. She could not understand that you cannot fly without your wings.

Stories of Enchantment by David Payton with contributions from Lynn Tolliver jr

Read Sherri L. Smith's posts on the Penguin Blog Ida Mae Jones dreams of flight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn’t stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy’s gone now, and being a woman, and being black, are two strikes against her. When America enters the war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the WASP, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots—and Ida suddenly sees a way to fly as well as do something significant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific. But even the WASP won’t accept her as a black woman, forcing Ida Mae to make a difficult choice of “passing,” of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program. Hiding one’s racial heritage, denying one’s family, denying one’s self is a heavy burden. And while Ida Mae chases her dream, she must also decide who it is she really wants to be.

Flying with the birds is a dream this little Panda fears will never come true. Until one day, he realizes that it is in his dreams where anything is possible! Follow Griffin, the Panda, in this beautifully illustrated book as he searches for answers to his own question, "BIRDS CAN FLY, WHY CAN't I?