Thursday, May 25, 2017

Summer Reading 2017 Science Comics: Flying Machines

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Join Katherine Wright, younger sister of the famous aviators, on a journey through the development of heavier than air flying vehicles. Katherine takes readers back in time and shows them the big names in aviation from more than a century ago. Penaud, Lilienthal, Ader, Voisin, Bleriot, Santos-Dumont, Curtis, Bell, Selfridge, and Whittle are all included, but she focuses on her brothers. The illustrations show the various gliders and planes that the inventors tried - with details about their sizes and the materials used to construct each one. The narration follows the chronological order of events, so it is easy to see how each attempt led to new ideas and improvements. Terms like axis of control and ailerons are shown and explained.

This series follows in the tradition of the Magic School Bus and the Max Axiom books by sharing science concepts through a graphic format. In this case, the comic style illustrations bring the history of aviation to life for readers. There are plenty of facts, and also helpful features such as a glossary, a list of books for further reading, a brief biography of Katherine Wright, and shorter (paragraph-length) bios of aviation pioneers. This book is an excellent introduction to the history of airplanes and aviation, and offers enough names to give readers a good place to start researching the topic more deeply on their own.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

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