Lerner Publications, 2013, grades 1-3.
Unlock the secrets of flight and learn more about hot air balloons, jets, and space vehicles!
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How hard is a hot air balloon to understand? It’s a balloon, right? It floats upward, right? Au contraire, says this impressively cogent entry into the How Flight Works series. Using playfully arranged text and the big, bright photos that have become trademark to the Lightning Bolt Books brand, Silverman explains the engines, cords, and vents that make flight possible, as well as how meteorological study compensates for the unnerving fact that ‘balloons cannot be steered.’ (One page illustrates how hot air balloons ‘float like dandelion seeds on a breezy day.’) Info on safety, passenger loads, and balloon storage lead to a final diagram labeling the parts of a passenger balloon, and a page of deeper facts, making this an airy, swift―but still quite informational―package.
[T]he series fills a hole in most elementary collections. Young boys eager for nonfiction books will grab these titles.
These introductions combine plenty of big, bright color photos with explanatory texts that, for all their brevity, will give new readers healthy doses of specific information.