PICTURE BOOK: Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen

My final flight-related purchase from Washington DC's Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. This is a fun picture book. I'm looking forward to reading this with my students.

Violet is a "mechanical genius." She designs and builds all sorts of contraptions that fly. In fact, she decides to enter one in the local air show. On the way there, though, she spots some folks in trouble and chooses to rescue them, destroying her chances of being in the air show. Everything works out for Violet in the end (as it generally does in picture books) and she is a hero.

4 out of 5 stars
AR rating of 4.2

PICTURE BOOK: How People Learned to Fly by Fran Hodgkins

This is another Smithsonian Air and Space find and a great addition to our school library's non-fiction section (and a book for my airplane-loving students).

This book quickly covers man's journey to flight in a child-friendly way (pretty adult-friendly, too, for those who might be on airplane overload like I was). It starts with how our stories and myths included the dream of flying, then moves to the things we had to learn about in order to fly (gravity, lift, wind), then on to wing designs and engines. I think this will be a popular book in our library this year.

3.5 out of 5 stars
AR level of 3.8

PICTURE BOOK: A is for Airplane by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle

The third (and final) alphabet book I picked up in Washington DC was this one, which we found at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

I picked this up for two reasons. First, as I have already stated, I love this line of picture books. Second, I have a student at school who is fascinated by airplanes and flight. He is one of only two students to ever fill out a materials request form for our school library. His request? More books about airplanes. I hope he enjoys this one!

I was pleasantly surprised that the book wasn't just about airplanes. After 3 hours touring Air and Space, I had my fill of machines that fly, frankly. But this includes a page on birds, Amelia Earhart, President Kennedy and the Tuskegee Airmen. I think this is a great book for home, classroom or library!

4 out of 5 stars
AR rating of 7.1