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Air Show!

by Treat Williams
Air Show! by Treat Williams; illus. by Robert Neubecker Preschool, Primary Disney-Hyperion 40 pp. 6/10 978-1-4231-1185-6 $16.99
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Ellie and her "know-it-all" brother, Gill, head to an air show in a plane flown by Dad and his copilot Carl. As Dad and Carl get ready to taxi out, readers get the sense that they, too, are in the cockpit preparing for takeoff: "'Fuel full?' Carl asked. 'Check!' said Dad. 'Flaps for takeoff?' 'Check!' 'Radios on?' 'Check!'" At the air show, Gill spouts airplane facts ("Today, a big jet's engines can be equal to as much as 59000 horsepower") and Ellie flies in a stunt plane—with a pilot named Amelia, of course. Stunning spreads show Williams's text in eye-catching arrangements: slanted atop a diagonal runway or shaped like an oval to mimic a plane doing a loop-the-loop. But the picture book's highlight is its illustrations, which make wonderful use of perspective, from a closeup of a cockpit's instrument panel to a bird's-eye view of an airfield to a from-the-ground look at a World War II B-17. Young airplane enthusiasts will zip through this handsome book and then fly back through the pages to hover over Neubecker's remarkable art. TANYA D. AUGER
PreS-Gr 3—Less a story than an excuse to expound on different types of planes and helicopters, this paean to flying machines will resonate with young transportation lovers. Ellie and her brother travel to an air show in their dad's plane, where Ellie gets a ride in a stunt plane. The facts about helicopters, jet engines, and the Blue Angels are clumsily loaded into the text, but young airplane aficionados are unlikely to notice among the bold, busy illustrations and foldout pages. The oversize picture-book format and Neubecker's bright, carefully detailed cartoon illustrations combine to provide the expansive, exciting feel of an air show, and the artist makes use of multiple perspectives to show planes from every angle.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD
Ellie goes to an air show in a plane flown by her dad. At the show, Ellie flies in a stunt plane--with a pilot named Amelia, of course. Stunning spreads show Williams's text in eye-catching arrangements. Neubecker's remarkable illustrations make wonderful use of perspective, from a closeup of a cockpit's instrument panel to a bird's-eye view of an airfield.
Reviewed by Kathleen Kelly MacMillan , Sep 01, 2010

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