Review by New York Times Review
For children intrigued by flight, Lyon has written an energetic and exciting book in rhyme about planes of all sorts : " Bi-planes / triplanes /gotta-love-the-sky-planes/ Prop planes /jet planes/ how-fast-can-youget-planes." With the look of 1930s travel posters, Wiggins's intensely colored pictures show planes at their most glamorous, zipping between storm clouds and swooping low over forest fires. Even the in-flight snacks look appealing. Perhaps the golden age of travel isn't over after all. DAREDEVIL The Daring Life of Betty Skelton Written and illustrated by Meghan McCarthy 48 pp. A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book, ages 4 to 8) In the 1930s, growing up near a Navy base in Pensacola, Fla., Betty Skelton fell in love with flight. A self-described "half-pint," Skelton nevertheless became a fearless stunt pilot, famous for cutting through a ribbon tied between two poles with her plane's propeller - while flying upside down. She later broke records in high-altitude flying, car racing and "boat jumping" - and trained as an astronaut. McCarthy's googly-eyed portraits make Skelton's story amusing as well as inspiring. JOURNEY Written and illustrated by Aaron Becker 40 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Though Becker has plenty of experience as an artist for films, "Journey" is his first book, and it's a masterwork. In a tale told solely through pictures, a lonely little girl in a dull, sepia-toned city picks up a red marker and draws a door on her bedroom wall. Through it, she enters a lushly detailed imaginary world where, with the marker's help, she floats and flies through a dramatic escapade and returns home with a friend. Though that marker will make you think of Crockett Johnson's " Harold and the Purple Crayon," Becker's book has a beauty distinctly its own. THE BOY AND THE AIRPLANE Written and illustrated by Mark Pett 40 pp. Simon & Schuster. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 10) Using a palette almost as quiet as his wordless text, Pett's witty if subdued picture book tells the story of a little boy who receives a toy airplane as a gift. After it lands out of reach on a roof, he tries everything he can think of (lasso, baseball, pogo stick, fireman's hose - even a ladder!) to get the plane down. Finally, the flight of a winged seed suggests another solution. Patience is amply rewarded, for both boy and reader. FLYING SOLO How Ruth Elder Soared Into Americas Heart By Julie Cummins Illustrated by Malene R. Laugesen Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9) In the 1920s, before Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic, Ruth Elder, a beauty queen with ambition, attempted a similar feat. Though she and her co-pilot had to ditch their plane, American Girl, two-thirds of the way across, Elder's pioneering spirit made her famous. She starred in two silent movies and took part in the first crosscountry air race flown by women, dismissively known as the Powder Puff Derby. Laugesen's big, dramatic illustrations give the reader a good sense of the landscapes - and fashions - of the early-20th-century setting. SARAH HARRISON SMITH ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books. Sarah Harrison Smith reviews several books for children about aviation and flying, including "Planes Fly!" by George Ella Lyon; "Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton," by Meghan McCarthy; "Journey," written by Aaron Becker; "The Boy and the Airplane," written by Mark Pett, and "Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared Into America's Heart," by Julie Cummins.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 14, 2013]
Review by Booklist Review
Seldom has a child been so satisfied with a gift as the little curly-haired boy in this wordless story who receives an old-fashioned red toy airplane. He takes it outside and puts it through its paces until the plane gets lost on the roof. The boy's long-term solution to the problem and his ultimate decision about what to do with the plane once he's recovered it are what turn this lyrical picture book into a read glowing with warm emotion. Pett's background in comic strips (Mr. Love and Lucky Cow) show through in the long, page-spanning imagery and his ability to convey emotion and story points through simple elements. With just a door, blades of grass, and a bird, he builds an entire world, while the gray tones of his palette create a sense of a bygone era. Without a single word, the story conveys a young child's joy and an adult's selfless generosity in a way that will have special appeal for quiet, thoughtful children.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Pett's wordless, somber story, a curly-headed boy's cherished toy airplane lands on the roof; to retrieve it, he plants a tree next to the shed and waits decades until it grows sturdy enough for him to climb. Time-lapse drawings show the boy standing by the tree, growing older until he becomes an overalls-wearing elderly man. He grabs the airplane with delight, then, sheepishly, gives it to the next child he sees. Pett (The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes) is a polished visual storyteller. Narrow panels denote quickly unfolding action as the boy tries getting his plane down with a ladder, pogo stick, and hose (rust red is the brightest color in his gray-brown palette). Wider panels convey discouragement and longer intervals as the boy sits under a maple tree, catches a falling maple key, then plants it. Despite child-friendly elements in the story, this is really a tale for adults about the passage of time and the unchanging nature of desire. Literal-minded readers are likely to ask why the boy didn't just fetch a grownup with a longer ladder. All ages. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-This beautifully designed, beautifully illustrated picture book uses muted beiges and grays for pages resembling brown wrapping paper and spare ink drawings in brown and dark red to tell a wordless story. A boy opens a wrapped package (presumably left for him by the man whose legs are seen walking off the opposite page), and he finds a toy airplane. He takes it outside and flies it, but the plane unfortunately lands on a roof. After various fruitless attempts with a ladder, lasso, baseball, and water hose to retrieve it, the child sits down to think things over, and a seed falls from a tree. He has an idea; he plants the seed and watches it grow to be a tree, as he grows older, too. When he is an old man, he finds the tree has grown enough that he can climb it and reach the roof where the airplane is still waiting. But when he tries to fly it, his arm is no longer strong enough, and the last spread shows a little girl holding a gift-wrapped box as the old man exits on the opposite page. Somewhat reminiscent of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, this quiet book will captivate youngsters with its gentle charm.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A little boy's beloved toy airplane gets stuck on the roof, so he plants a seed in the ground, which, like him, grows, until he's an old man who climbs the tree and...ah, but there's a twist. This inspiring wordless book's refined, nearly colorless pencil and watercolor art keeps the focus where it should be: on the wonder of organic change. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this wordless title, a tousled boy in overalls receives a present that changes his life. The opening depicts the protagonist holding the box on the recto; his gaze follows a leg disappearing from the verso. Once unwrapped, the red ink of the new toy--the titular airplane--contrasts with the muted, lightly flecked, taupe, green and gray backgrounds. Pacing is controlled through subtle changes in these colors, modulating from four varied, vertical panels on a page to unified double-page spreads. After cavorting with a curious bird (which remains a comforting presence throughout), the child launches the plane and watches it land on the roof. Neither ladder, lasso, pogo stick, nor hose offers a solution, but inspiration falls from a tree in the form of a maple seed "helicopter." The boy plants the seed next to the house, and decades pass; finally, the tree's growth allows retrieval. The now-plump, bearded man revels in his toy once again but then pauses, reflectively. The narrative comes full circle as he exits empty-handed stage right, while a girl across the gutter holds a present. Recalling both the ingenuity of Oliver Jeffers' Stuck (2011) and the sense of foreboding in Chris Van Allsburg's Jumanji (1981), Pett's winsome caricatures enact a quietly provocative drama certain to raise questions about the value of patience, the burden of ownership and the ethics related to this instance of "re-gifting." (Picture book. 4-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
