The Wright Brothers

Gr 4—8—The Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk changed the way people viewed the world and led to the creation of modern air travel. Russell Freedman's Newbery Honor biography (Holiday House, 1991) traces the brothers' lives and the events that led to manned flight. It captures the tenacity and determination of the brothers and their unwillingness to accept failure. Students will be surprised to learn that some of the devices on modern aircraft date back to their inventions. The multitude of interesting facts and minute details that draw readers into the print version seems to bog listeners down in the audiobook narrated by Knighton Bliss. The text is laced with quotes from journals, letters, eyewitness accounts, friends, and colleagues of Orville and Wilber, and sometimes the transitions between them are unclear in the audio format. The bonus disc features an interactive gallery of the photos taken by the brothers and others to document their experiments. Have the book available to facilitate note taking.—Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY