PAPER AIRPLANE: A Lesson for Flying Outside the Box

McMillan's story of a boy's mind-changing event in sixth grade contains a plot twist intended to promote "alternative thinking," otherwise known by that more familiar phrase, "thinking outside of the box." McMillan, a graphic designer who self-designed this 8"×8" tale of two boys given a class assignment to build paper airplanes, obviously intends it for both adults and children, with enough visual stimulation—wild 'n' crazy type; photos and illustrations bleeding off the page—to keep the narrative moving along at a quick clip and enough pop business psychology to keep corporate types interested. A page of type flying through white lines against a pale blue background works well to illustrate the aerodynamic principles of flying, while at the same time demonstrating the forward movement of the story. But the following page, showing how "Tom" (the narrator) picks "Jeff" (the rebellious alternative thinker hero of the tale) to be his partner in paper-airplane building, fails to capture the complex (and less aerodynamic) social interactions of the classroom. McMillan himself admits in a short introduction that "the information about aerodynamics + flying is somewhat limited," which is a pity, given the format's possibilities, and which makes the final result a letdown, since Jeff's solution to the assignment could easily be construed as due to a slightly obnoxious laziness, instead of a truly da Vincian assessment of the world around us. (Apr.)