Chapter 1

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DEDICATION For every child who learned that two heads are better than one.

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Nobody in Ms. Kowalski's second grade class could make a paper airplane that flew straight. Not Emma. Not Jamal. Not even Yuki, who was good at everything.

"Mine goes left!" Emma complained.

"Mine goes down," Jamal said sadly.

"Mine goes up and then dies," Yuki reported.

Ms. Kowalski smiled. "What if I told you that making a perfect airplane is not about doing it alone?"

The class looked confused.

"That's weird," Emma said.

"That's the challenge," Ms. Kowalski replied.

Emma and Jamal were partners. Emma was good at folding — her creases were sharp and perfect. Jamal was good at throwing — his arm was the strongest in the class. But when Emma folded and Jamal threw, the airplane wobbled and crashed.

"Your folds are too tight," Jamal said.

"Your throw is too hard," Emma said.

They sat and looked at the crashed airplane and felt grumpy.

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The next day, Ms. Kowalski told the class a story.

"Once upon a time," she said, "there were two birds who wanted to fly across a mountain. One bird had strong wings but couldn't see very far. The other bird had excellent eyes but weak wings. Alone, neither could make the journey. But together..."

"The seeing bird told the strong bird where to go!" Yuki shouted.

"Exactly. They combined their strengths."

Emma looked at Jamal. Jamal looked at Emma.

"You're the folder," Jamal said. "You know how to make the shape."

"And you're the thrower," Emma said. "You know how to make it fly."

"So maybe instead of doing our own thing, we should talk about it."

They spent the whole afternoon talking. Emma explained about wing angles and nose weight. Jamal explained about release points and wrist flick. They listened to each other — really listened — and made a new airplane together.

Emma folded it with slightly looser creases. Jamal threw it with slightly less force.

It flew straight across the room and landed on Ms. Kowalski's desk.

The class cheered. Emma and Jamal high-fived so hard their hands stung.

"How did you do it?" Yuki asked.

"We talked," Emma said. "We listened. We combined our strengths."

"That," Ms. Kowalski said, "is called consultation. And it works for a lot more than paper airplanes."

By the end of the week, every team had made an airplane that flew. Not because any one person was the best, but because two people, working together, were better than either one alone.

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On Friday, Ms. Kowalski announced the Paper Airplane Air Show.

Every team would fly their airplane, and the whole school was invited to watch. But there was no prize for the airplane that flew the farthest.

"The prize," Ms. Kowalski said, "goes to the team that can explain how they worked together."

The air show was magnificent. Airplanes sailed across the gym — some far, some high, some in loops that made everyone laugh. But the best part was the stories.

Emma and Jamal talked about listening to each other. Yuki and her partner Sofia talked about combining Yuki's math skills with Sofia's artistic eye. Two quiet boys named Liam and Chen talked about how they didn't speak the same language at first — Chen was new from China — but they figured out paper airplanes together using hand gestures and drawings.

"We didn't need words," Chen said, in careful English. "We needed patience."

The whole gym was quiet. Then everyone clapped.

Ms. Kowalski gave the prize to every team. "You all won," she said. "Because you all learned the secret."

"What secret?" the principal asked.

"That the best things in life are built together."

"I did," her mom said. "That's why families work. That's why communities work. One person has one idea. Two people have a hundred."

Emma thought about this. She thought about Jamal's strong arm and her careful folds. She thought about Chen's patience and Liam's willingness to try.

"Mom?" she said. "I think paper airplanes are about a lot more than paper airplanes."

Her mom smiled. "I think you're right."

That night, Emma put her airplane on her shelf, right next to her favorite books. It wasn't the straightest airplane or the fanciest. But it was the one she and Jamal had made together, and that made it the best one in the world.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Crimson Ark Publishing creates fiction about teamwork, consultation, and the joy of working together.