The Wright Brothers

Children's Literature

Martin has presented a brief, yet detailed look at the lives of the Wright brothers. Beginning with a look at their childhood and their family life, the author highlights their failures and successes at their experiments with motorized flight. Each had a keen interest in engineering and loved to discover how a thing worked, and each was quite successful at some entrepreneurial ventures, although neither brother attended college. The Wright brothers were unique in their explorations into flight in that they actually studied birds, the dynamics of airflow, and the mistakes they and others made in earlier flying experiments. After their successful experiment at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers went on to patent their invention and became famous the world over, but suffered through years of court battles regarding their patents. Their entire history is presented in a straightforward, informative style and gives a thorough introduction to the Wright brothers. The text is fully illustrated with black-and-white photos and supplemental information corresponding to the chapter topics. Also included are endnotes, a bibliography, additional sources to consult, and an index. 2003, Lucent Books,
— Danielle Williams