The Wright Brothers - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2-This rather slight picture book follows a "House That Jack Built" pattern and quickly becomes tiresome. One cannot sustain interest with the awkward refrain, "which was conquered in flight in 1903." Edwards does employ a clever device to help tell the Wrights' story-little mice scampering across the pages with asides to one another that actually contain significant facts and humorous opinions. However, it may be difficult for young readers to distinguish between the two. This approach is reminiscent of Robert Quackenbush's Take Me Out to the Airfield! (Parents' Magazine, 1976; o.p.), which has a more enlightened and accessible text. Cole's drawings seem to mature as the book progresses, but his human figures appear somewhat underdeveloped and expressionless. Endpapers with a streaming pink ribbon of facts construct an interesting and inventive time line, one of the better features of the book.
Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
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