Customer Reviews

Follow Your Dreams: The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont / Dê Asas aos Seus Sonhos (English / Portuguese)

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This is a beautifully illustrated book about a young man's quest to find a way to fly. The young reader visits Brazil and Paris through the story and pictures, as well as learning about perseverence. A good book to begin introducing the early grades to biography.

The story of Alberto Santos-Dumont is one that needs to be told to young and old alike. What Elisabeth Waugaman has done is to provide a beautifully told and illustrated story for younger readers, bringing Mr. Santos-Dumont's philosophy of keeping on trying and learning from one's mistakes. And the writing is, at times, magical, particularly in Ms. Waugaman's description of when Santos-Dumont saw a rainbow in the clouds during his first baloon flight.

For those who are new to Alberto Santos-Dumont, he was a Brazilian who settled in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century to pursue his dream that "man flies." Although Santos-Dumont was enthralled by the experience of his first baloon ride, he set out to build an airship, a powered lighter-than-air craft that could be steered. In this he succeeded admirably and quickly became the talk of the town, as "the little Brazilian" was spotted across Paris in one of his ingenious craft. In 1906, he became the first person in Europe to pilot a powered, controlled heavier-than-air aeroplane, known as the "14-bis." However, there has been much controversy in that most people in Brazil feel the credit for the first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flight should go to him, as the Wright Brothers' 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk was not officially documented.

My only misgiving is that the book takes the side of Brazilian popular culture, crediting Santos-Dumont with what most scholars feel rightfully belongs to Wilbur and Orville Wright. As Sir Peter Wyckham pointed out in his definitive biography of Santos-Dumont, this controversy had the ironic effect of making the Brazilian aviator almost unknown outside his native Brazil, which is indeed unfortunate, because Santos-Dumont really was a hero for his many accomplishments as well as his personal idiosyncracies. In addition, the translator for the Portuguese text, faithful to the English original in every other way, exaggerates Santos-Dumont's fame.

Nevertheless, Dr. Waugaman does an admirable job in presenting both sides. Her artwork is beautiful, alone well worth the price of the book. That Dr. Waugaman loves children and respects their dreams is evident in both the text and her sympathetic treatment to an eccentric hero; moreover, her deeds speak as loudly as her words: she has kindly donated proceeds of her book to children's charities.

This is a very special, unique book, one to treasure for a long time (which, in my mind, justfies its high price). Read it and enjoy the colorful illustrations. As Alberto Santos-Dumont did, may this book inspire young and old to fly and follow their own dreams.

I purchased this book for my grandson. Both he & I love this book. It is beautifully written and colorfully illustrated. It is a wonderful story to read to a toddler and I look forward to my grandson learning to read it to me someday soon. I recommend it without reservation.

"Follow Your Dreams, The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont", by Elisabeth Waugaman, is far more than a fantastic children's book, but is immensely educational for children and adults alike. My family bought this book for my two young cousins because it not only looked interesting but it is written in both English and Portuguese, so we figured they could pick up some of the foreign language by reading it. Much to my delight, the book contains beautiful drawings and paintings that evoke 19th century Brazil and France, and give the book a characterization that many children's books lack. However, the images of the book are only a prelude to the wealth of information that I actually learned from reading it. The story section, which is written with the ease and simplicity that a child will enjoy, details much of the life of Alberto Santos-Dumont, a man I did not even know existed. Learning of his genius, his character, and his contributions to the beginning of air-travel left me spellbound. This man might have had just as immense of an impact on flight as the Wright Brothers, yet I knew nothing of him before reading this book. It is written in a way that is educational without being too serious, it is fun, and will leave everyone who reads it throwing in little facts from it into conversation (such as, "did you know that the wrist watch was invented for Alberto Santos-Dumont so he could check the time while he was operating his aircraft?"). The afterword and timeline are also useful for adults, because it recounts the story in a more professional manner and puts it in its historical perspective. Overall, I was very impressed with Elisabeth Waugaman's book. Not only will my little cousins find it enjoyable and learn to speak a little Portuguese, but they, as well as any adult, will learn about a fascinating character that should rightfully take his place with the Wright Brothers in history.

"Follow Your Dreams: The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont" has a website. Go to www.followyourdreams.cc for 5 packets of activities for children, material for teachers, and a detailed discussion of the book's design and colors. "Follow Your Dreams" was featured by the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space in Washington, D.C.

Written and illustrated by Elisabeth P. Waugaman for young bilingual (English/Portuguese) readers, Follow Your Dreams/De Asas aos Seus Sonhos: The Story Of Alberto Santos-Dumont is a biography of the intriguing life and incredible accomplishments of Alberto Santos-Dumont who grew up in Brazil. Following Alberto's child-hood dream to fly in a time pre-dating the Wright brother's famed accomplishments, Follow Your Dreams/De Asas aos Seus Sonhos will captivate the rapt attention of young readers from first page to last with the encouraging story of Alberto Santos-Dumont's inventive mind, ambitious aspirations, and fulfilling passion to design, fabricate and fly the smallest passenger balloon, and create a plane with wheels he called "The Dragonfly". Highly recommended for school and community library Bi-Lingual collections for ages 6 to 10, Follow Your Dreams/De Asas aos Seus Sonhos is very highly recommended for all young readers as an inspiring tale of pursuing a dream and the amazing accomplishments of what may come from such persistence.