Sky High! A Soaring History of Aviation

"Sky High! This book made our best books for kids of 2023 . The text is very informative but prominence is given to the comic-like style illustrations. The large format allows plenty of room for the drawings effectively to show how things work. Sky High! Is mainly a history of aviation and different types of aircraft, but there is also a lot of content about how flight actually works. It starts from basics such as how a whirlybird or helicopter seed spins, how the dandelion fruit acts like a tiny parachute that gets pulled up in tiny eddies of air. Then we get to how hot air makes a balloon rise and how the wing of a plane glider works. Readers see how control of the rudder, elevators and ailerons change the way the air flows, and learn how different engines (jet, turbofan, rocket) work in simple terms. Concepts such as sound waves and radio are also introduced. And we learn about air currents, how temperature affects function — all the different factors involved in designing a plane. This is a fantastic book for children age 8-13 who are interested in how aviation works."