Description
Follows the lives of the Wright brothers and describes how they developed the first airplane.
Pages
129
Awards
Texas Bluebonnet Award (Nominee — 1993)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Honor — Nonfiction — 1991)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (1991)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 1993)
Cardinal Cup (Winner — 1992)
William Allen White Children's Book Award (Nominee — 1993-1994)
Newbery Medal (Honor Book — 1992)
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (Nominee)
Golden Kite Award (Winner — Nonfiction — 1992)
Orbis Pictus Award (Recommended Title — 1992)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1992)
CCBC Choices (1991)
NCTE Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K—Grade 6 (10th Edition: 1988-1992)
Teacher Favorites Award (1989-1993)
Media reviews
[Starred Review.] Using illuminating facts and incidents to place the story of this monumental achievement in the history of aeronautics and in the brothers' personal lives, Freedman focuses on the events that led to the first successful flight and on the Wrights' subsequent improvements on their
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invention. Diagrams and lucid explanations of the principles of flying make the years of tinkering, experimenting, reasoning, and problem-solving even more fascinating. ... Like Lincoln (Newbery Medal, 1988), this is familiar but retold in a manner so fresh and immediate that reading it is like discovering the material for the first time. (Nonfiction. 9+) Show Less
Newbery winner Freedman (Lincoln: A Photobiography) has again produced a vivid, superior biography. ... he makes ample, effective use of the many astonishing photos taken by the brothers in order to better document their experiments. Youngsters cannot fail to come away with a heightened
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understanding of the Wrights' dedication to manned flight and to the painstakingly slow process of invention. Ages 10-up. Show Less