First Flight: The Story of the Wright Brothers

This is one of my favorite Wright bros books for kids. We went through a little Wright brothers binge, and read all we could find on them. The story of the Wright brothers is pretty well hashed out at this point, and for the most part all the books tell the same story, with the same details. What differentiates the books is reading level, how many pictures (they all use the Wright brothers' own photos, so there isn't much variation in quality), and how much engineering details they include. This one is a nice middle ground. The reading is terse enough that early grade school can read it. There aren't a super lot of pictures, but there are some nice side bars that explain some of the background and engineering in a basic way. Of all the ones we've looked at and checked out, I think this is the best I'd suggest for a young engineer who doesn't know much about the Wrights yet.

For any child interested in the invention of heavier than air flying machines, this chapter book will inspire, inform and delight young readers. Great images, great vocabulary practice and easy to follow text.