On the Wings of Eagles

by Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Alisha Monnin (Illustrator)

Overview

"Suspenseful and well told."—Jewish Book Council

"Excellent job...good as a read-aloud or for beginning readers." —Historical Novel Society

Based on real events, this picture book for ages 5-8 dramatizes the story of young Haila, a Yemenite girl, who with her family was airlifted to safety by Alaska Airlines pilot Warren Metzger during Operation Magic Carpet, an international effort that rescued nearly 50,000 Jews from the dangers of Yemen in 1949 and 1950.

“You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles' wings to bring you to me.” —Exodus 19:4

It's not safe for Haila and her family in Yemen anymore. They've been promised they will be carried to safety on the wings of eagles. But time is running short as they wait for help.

On the other side of the world, Warren is a pilot for Alaska Airlines. When he receives a telegram asking to aid the Jews fleeing Yemen, he knows he has to take the risk and do what he can to help.

After a long journey to Aden, a port city where they were to go to leave Yemen, Haila and her family are scared to see an airplane for the first time. Where are the eagles that were supposed to fly them to Israel? Warren needs to show everyone that they're safe, and hopefully, his plan will work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681156354
Publisher:	Behrman House, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/29/2025
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.38(w) x 10.88(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tami Lehman-Wilzig is an award-winning author of many picture books, including SOOSIE, The Horse That Saved Shabbat; Boston Chocolate Party; Keeping the Promise; and Passover Around the World. She has lived in Israel since 1977, and lives in Kfar Saba with her husband.

Alisha Monnin was born and raised in rural Ohio. Growing up, she was a voracious reader and daydreamed about going on magical adventures. As an adult, she still spends her days daydreaming and reading, but now her imagination is funneled into her artwork. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and now resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with her Manx cat named Beignet.

Editorial Reviews

"In 1949, The Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty of Yemen under­stood that they could no longer sur­vive sur­round­ed by ene­mies. They knew that the time had come to emi­grate to their ancient home­land of Israel. The peo­ple had always clung to the bib­li­cal promise that some­day they would return to Israel on the wings of eagles. Those wings turned out to be the gleam­ing sil­ver wings of a plane oper­at­ed by Alas­ka Air­lines and manned by an extra­or­di­nary pilot named War­ren and his crew.

War­ren saw the ter­ror on the faces of his pas­sen­gers and real­ized that none of them had ever seen an air­plane before. He wise­ly paint­ed the pic­ture of an eagle on the body of the air­craft to con­nect it to the dear­ly held prophe­cy, there­by reduc­ing his pas­sen­gers’ fears. But the fam­i­lies’ reac­tions were only part of the chal­lenge. War­ren and his crew faced threats and promis­es of ter­ror from Arab sol­diers deter­mined to stop the flight. He brave­ly per­sist­ed in his res­cue mis­sion earn­ing the thanks and appre­ci­a­tion of the fam­i­lies on board.

An author’s note tells the his­to­ry of this coura­geous mis­sion known as Oper­a­tion Eagles’ Wings or Oper­a­tion Mag­ic Car­pet. Alas­ka Air­lines oper­at­ed 430 flights bring­ing 49,000 Jew­ish refugees from Yemen to Israel dur­ing 1940 – 1950. This endeav­or was spon­sored and devel­oped by the Amer­i­can Jew­ish Joint Dis­tri­b­u­tion Com­mit­tee. Black-and-white pho­tographs of the oper­a­tion accom­pa­ny this fas­ci­nat­ing his­tor­i­cal note. A short bio­graph­i­cal note about the par­tic­i­pants of the sto­ry and a glos­sary of terms are also included.

This is a sus­pense­ful and well-told tale based on a true chap­ter in Jew­ish his­to­ry. It is accom­pa­nied by soft­ly col­ored, rich­ly detailed illus­tra­tions that help bring this mag­i­cal sto­ry alive for young read­ers today." —Jewish Book Council

"This picture book tells the story of the evacuation of Jews from Yemen in 1949. After the creation of the Israeli state, Jews in Yemen were no longer safe. Young Haila and her mother, father, and grandmother decide they must leave their home, which they’ve always viewed as temporary, to walk through the desert. They believe an “eagle” will come and fly them to Jerusalem. In Alaska, an Alaskan Airlines pilot named Walter gets a telegram asking for help in rescuing the Jews of Yemen. When Haila’s family gets to the right place, Walter must convince them that it is safe to board the airplane. To convince them, he paints an eagle on the plane.

The full-page, realistic, colorful illustrations do an excellent job of telling the story, showing what Yemen looked like, and how the people looked and dressed at the time of the story. Most pages include only a few sentences of text, making this good as a read-aloud or for beginning readers. End notes explain the true events, pilot, and little girl the story is based on, as well as definitions of the few Arabic words used in the story. Ages 5-8." —Historical Novel Society

From the Publisher