Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle

In the years and decades following the Wright Brothers' famous first flight, an obsession with aviation gripped the nation. Thousands caught the bug. In an era of innovation and invention, scores of people pursued their own personal dreams of building a flying machine, and many did so right in their own backyards.

Few stories, though, are as remarkable as that of Cromwell Dixon, a fourteen-year-old boy who successfully designed, built and flew what he dubbed his "Sky-Cycle" - literally a flying bicycle, that he could fully steer, and that he flew thousands of feet in the air.

In the years and decades following the Wright Brothers' famous first flight, an obsession with aviation gripped the nation. Thousands caught the bug. In an era of innovation and invention, scores of people pursued their own personal dreams of building a flying machine, and many did so right in their own backyards.

Few stories, though, are as remarkable as that of Cromwell Dixon, a fourteen-year-old boy who successfully designed, built and flew what he dubbed his “Sky-Cycle”—literally a flying bicycle, that he could fully steer, and that he flew thousands of feet in the air.

Publishers Weekly

Nez (One Smart Cookie) introduces an obscure figure in flight history with engaging artwork that jazzes up this jaunt to a golden age of invention. In the early 20th century, 14-year-old inventor Cromwell Dixon, obsessed with airships like many Americans at the time, begins work on one of his own. He "took apart his old bicycle and rebuilt it in a different way. Land's sake! What a mixed-up contraption began taking shape in the barn." Despite one major setback and with the help of his patient mother, Cromwell finally pedals his machine aloft over Columbus, Ohio. Set mostly against a robin's-egg blue sky, the detail-rich scenes (Nez even captures the wry expressions of some chickens put out when Cromwell lands on their coop) offer ground-up and bird's-eye views of the action. Nez's direct-from-Main-Street narrative ("that boy had more gumption than a gopher") and cartoons present a keen, smiling Cromwell not easily deterred-his attitude will be infectious. Brief endnotes and photos of Cromwell, his mother and his flying machine conclude this cheery portrait of "America's Boy Aeronaut." Ages 5-up. (May)

John Nez has illustrated more than fifty children's books. He has often wondered what it might be like to take off on a flying bicycle into the clouds, but had fun creating a book about it instead. John Nez lives in Seattle, Washington.