Exposition: The story is set in a large city on the West Side, and the characters are a janitor named Al and his dog named Eddie.
Conflict: Eddie and Al live an ordinary life but a meager existence, and they want more than what they have.
Rising Action: Eddie and Al argue over wanting to have more than what they have. One morning a large bird frightens Al and tells him if he wants more that he should come with him. So the next day Al and Eddie leave with the bird and fly up to a utopian island where they have not a care in the world, and they make themselves at home relishing their new life with birds.
Climax: One day Eddie and Al wake up to find they are turning into birds and struggle to maintain their normal selves, so they try to flee the island and the birds.
Falling Action: Eddie and Al do not get help from the birds, and decide they need to flee back to the West Side; however in their haste to escape they become seperated and Eddie plunges into the sea, in very much an Icarus fashion, because he did not stay close to Al. Al returns to his sad apartment lost without Eddie.
Resolution: Eddie survives and swims his way back to Al where they decide the lesson they have learned is "Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found". So they are happy to be in their home.
This book is illustrated in a very interesting way. It has wonderful drawings and colors that spill over the frames that have been drawn onto the pages. The illustrations go beyond the borders and that makes the reader look at all of the page not just the main part of the illistrations.
Yorinks, A., Egielski, R., & Egolf, R. L. (1986). Hey, Al . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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