Alistair Reid (1926–2014)

Summary: A Balloon for a Blunderbuss is a story about a child’s imagination. The child starts out with a butterfly in his hands. He asks his friend if he would trade the butterfly for a wishbone. The two continue to imagine what they would trade the wishbone for until they discover if they continue trading, they could own everything in the world. The two children marvel over the fact that they could simply start with a butterfly and end with the entire world. The book ends with the second boy asking to see the butterfly and it flying away.
Teaching Implications: A Balloon for a Blunderbuss could be used to teach the students about the meaning of trading. The entire book is about one object being traded for another. This also could be used to introduce the worth of different things. Is a butterfly worth a wishbone? This book can also be used to help inspire student’s imagination. The two children in the story imagine themselves into the owners of the world. It could be used to help students start to write about things that aren’t. Provide them the allowance to imagine themselves into writing about a new world where some rules do not apply.… (more)