***To Fly

The Story of the Wright Brothers

by Wendie Old

Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

Reviewed February 17, 2003.
Clarion Books, New York, 2002.  48 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (J 629.13 OLD)

Published in time for the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight, this book tells the story simply and clearly.  This book will be perfect for the young children at Sembach Elementary who need to do a biography project every year.  Each chapter is about a page of text, with a picture on the facing page of the one idea presented.

This book gave me a clear idea of the progression that led to the Wright brothers building a self-propelled airplane.  It talked about their start with building kites, then bicycles.  It discussed how they built the first wind tunnel to figure out the best shape for airplane wings.  It also showed how the two brothers worked together and came up with better results than either one could have done alone.

A nice, factual book, clearly presented.

Copyright © 2003 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.

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