WE FLY

For nursery aeronauts, a capsule history of flight from envy of the birds to beating them at their own game, in a succinct, slightly stilted text and crisp, amusing illustrations. We try to fly with Icarus (the birds are curious), succeed in a sequence of better and better balloons, glide downhill with Otto Lilienthal, attach a motor and propeller with the Wrights (the birds stop laughing), cross the ocean with Lindbergh, jet and rocket all the way to the moon (while the birds sit in the trees and watch). All this is only a little arch (the birds have bit roles), and it is effective instruction if you don't mind your facts spiked with fun in the style of a contemporary film cartoon.