Start your engines and get ready to take off for an amazing read.
Cars that fly? Only in stories like Harry Potter or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or fantasy films, right? Nope, flying cars have been in existence since the beginning of the 1900s. Who knew?
Author-illustrator Glass departs from the world of picture books (The Wondrous Whirligig, 2003, etc.) to apply his hand to long-form nonfiction. And what a high-flying job he has done. He devotes a chapter to each of 14 visionary men who believed they could prove that cars and planes could be fused into one flying machine. First was Gustave Whitehead, who designed a bird-shaped glider named the Condor in 1901; the last was Daniel Zuck, who predicted squadrons of commuters in Plane-Mobiles. The names of their machines were as imaginative as their inventions: Henry Ford’s Sky Flivver, Harold Pitcairn’s Autogiro, and Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car are just a sampling. The fascinating details of the dangers and difficulties each man faced read smoothly and engagingly. Glass’ research is extensive and impeccable, and the archival black-and-white photos provide visual context. All in all, it’s a tremendous narrative-nonfiction debut for a creator who’s long been associated with the 32-page format.
Start your engines and get ready to take off for an amazing read. (author’s note, glossary, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-618-98482-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
Finally, an astro-memoir for kids that really gets down to the nitty-gritty.
A former space shuttle pilot and International Space Station commander recalls in unusually exacting detail what it’s like to be an astronaut.
In the same vein as his more expansive adult title How To Astronaut (2020), Virts describes and reflects on his experiences with frank and photographic precision—from riding the infamous “Vomit Comet” to what astronauts wear, eat, and get paid. He also writes vividly about what Earth looks like from near orbit: the different colors of deserts, for instance, and storms that “are so powerful that the flashes from the lightning illuminate the inside of the space station.” With an eye to younger audiences with stars in their eyes, he describes space programs of the past and near future in clear, simple language and embeds pep talks about the importance of getting a good education and ignoring nay-sayers. For readers eager to start their training early, he also tucks in the occasional preparatory “Astronaut Activity,” such as taking some (unused) household item apart…and then putting it back together. Lozano supplements the small color photos of our planet from space and astronauts at work with helpful labeled images, including two types of spacesuits and a space shuttle, as well as cartoon spot art depicting diverse figures.
Finally, an astro-memoir for kids that really gets down to the nitty-gritty. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781523514564
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
A memorable flight for prospective space travelers.
An overview of our solar system, from the sun to the Kuiper Belt, and how we are exploring it.
As solar-system tours go, it’s a quick flyby, but it’s also lively and unusually rich in uncommon observations and insights. Following views of the Big Bang and the history of astronomy, Stuart stops at the sun, then Mercury, Venus (where human visitors would be “baked, crushed, and dissolved”), and each other planet in succession. On the way, he cogently argues that Mars is the “most explored” planet, as we have better maps of its surface than our own ocean bottoms. The journey is rounded out with a mixed bag of topical spreads ranging from a gallery of dwarf planets to a timeline of our outer-space ventures up to Elon Musk’s 2018 SpaceX rocket launch and a diagrammatic look at a modern Soyuz launch and return. In the illustrations, satellites and spacecraft, enlarged images of select moons, exploded views, fact boxes, and digestible narrative blocks orbit Brandon-King’s larger, reasonably realistic planetary portraits. Occasional scenes feature light- and dark-skinned human figures of all genders peering into telescopes or floating in vacuum.
A memorable flight for prospective space travelers. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78708-017-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Button Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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