Ever wondered how planes can fly so slow, or how hot air balloons float away into the breeze? I do, so for the Cornerstones of Science Project I read the book Flight by John Farndon. This book tells how early flight originated and how it still continues to improve to this day. The book tells you about hot air balloons, blimps, how to make a mini hot air balloon, how birds fly and how a wing works. It also talks about helicopters and gliders. My opinion of this book is that it is a fun book for people who want to learn aerodynamics of objects that will fly and to make something that will fly.

Some early milestones for flying were 1914 when air passenger service began in Florida, 1919 when John Adcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, and 1933 when Wiley Post flies around the world. There are various types of flying craft. Airships are enormous nylon balloons with hot air produced by burning propane. These hot air balloons fly with the wind with a tiny open basket beneath to hold a few people. Blimps are the same sort of craft except they are more maneuverable and are enclosed and can carry a lode of people. Gliders are planes without engines. They fly using wind power, air currents or thermals, which are spots of hot air in the sky or atmosphere. There are many different ways to launch these aircraft such as towing which means towing the glider along the ground behind an automobile until it gets enough airspeed to take off. Another way is a winch launch which uses a motor to tow the glider until it gets airspeed. Both methods are quick and cheap but only give briefer flights of about 1000 feet or less. The best way of launching is by a powered airplane pulling the glider in the air behind it using a tow rope. This is called aero-tow.

In general the book has many good facts as well as showing how to make kites, paper gliders, airplanes and mini hot air balloons. The information and style of writing were pretty clear to me and is well set up by subject and chapter. Each chapter is well organized. The book is informative and I learned a great deal about gliders in particular. There are several good pictures and clear examples to help explain flight. I couldn’t improve on the illustrations. There is a glossary of words that are found in the book. However, there is no list of further suggested readings available. This might be useful to have. The book was a little too simple for a fifth grader. It would be good for a fourth grader if they were interested in things that fly especially if they wanted to build something that flies. It was a very fun book and somewhat informative. Some of the information I already knew but there was also new information for me. I would give this book a 3+ star rating, and I would recommend this book to a fourth grader. I would leave it as a Cornerstones nominee.

~ Devon C. of Brunswick
1st Place 5th Grade / Read, Write & Win 2007