If I were to ask you who was the inventor of human flight, how would you answer? Would you rack your brain for school memories and then come up with the Wright brothers? Would you be surprised and interested if you then found out that perhaps it wasn’t the Wright brothers after all, but someone else entirely?
The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont by Victoria Griffith, illustrated by Eva Montanari is one of the most enjoyable nonfiction picture books I’ve read this year and it tells the story of one Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian living in Paris at the turn of the 20th century, who, it turns out, has a very good claim on being the inventor of the airplane.
Alberto Santos-Dumont, inspired by a childhood passion for Jules Vernes, was crazy about inventing flying machines. He was famous across Paris for his preferred mode of city transport – his own private airship, a dirigible, which he used like an airborne taxi to take him to cafes and shops around town. But like many inventors Santos-Dumont didn’t sit still; he was knew “even the best inventions can be improved” and so he set about designing an airplane.
One chilly morning in November 1906, on the outskirts of Paris, Santos-Dumont promised to make the world’s first public airplane flight. Things didn’t get off to a good start when a rival would-be pilot turned up with his own airplane. But when this plane failed to make it off the ground, it was Santos-Dumont’s turn….
And he was off! Although he flew for barely more than 20 seconds, Santos-Dumont became the first person to lift off and land a completely self-propelled plane. Santos-Dumont was of course delighted: “these machines will mean the end of all wars. Once people are able to fly to different countries, they will see how much we have in common. We will all be friends.”
Victoria Griffith must have been jumping with delight as she gradually learned about Alberto Santos-Dumont; what better hero for a story could there be? He was a larger-than-life gentleman (he gave away most of the money he earned for his inventions), an eccentric, he played an important role in a world changing invention and he left a lasting legacy that you may well have heard of, even if you didn’t associate it with Alberto or had never knowingly heard his name before (there’s a clue in the picture below, but I’ll leave it for you to read the book to enjoy the story associated with it!)
Now it’s one thing to unearth a great story waiting to be told, but it’s quite another to weave it all together to create a narrative that grabs you from the outset, captures your imagination and makes you want to know more about the facts in question. Griffith does all of this perfectly, showing us a very important scientific truth along the way – that facts are often far more complicated than the received wisdom about them.
Eva Montanari’s illustrations, with e
The prompt for this month on the CBIG blog is, Happy. I recently finished this piece for my new portfolio. It’s from a sketch I did last year of a witch girl and her puppy. They’re both happy because it’s the puppy’s first broom ride. Not only is he managing to hold on, he’s also loving every minute of the ride. It’s even better than being in the car because he doesn’t have to stick his head out a window to get air.
I also have a black and white version.
p.s. Halloween is only 77 days away 
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I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson
(CarolRhoda, 2010) |
"The earth is my body; my head is in the stars." ~ MaudeThis week's theme: Covers which defy gravity. Feel free to join in with your own lofty cover recommendations in the comments.
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Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle
by John Abbott Nez, a non-fiction picture book
(Putnam, 2009) |
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Flying! by Kevin Luthardt
(Peachtree, 2009) |
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Willoughby and the Moon by Greg Foley
(HarperCollins, 2010)
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The Summer I Learned to Fly
by Dana Reinhardt
(Wendy Lamb Books, 2011) |
More visions of the celestial sphere:
1 Comments on To Chase the Glowing Hours . . ., last added: 8/5/2011
Guest blogging over at the Barn Door today. Join me for a snarky look at a recent flight back from Florida.
By: Gigi Moore,
on 2/7/2011
Blog: Gigi's Studio
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JacketFlap tags:
nature, Illustrations, digital, Children's Illustrations, trees, whimsical, flying, demo, video demo, painting demo, telephone lines, man, birds, Videos, Add a tag
By: stephanie,
on 10/14/2010
Blog: sruble.com
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fun, illustration friday, drawing, if, transportation, flying, my art, children's books, art, chickens, digital, fun stuff, Add a tag
The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is transportation. If you could travel any way you wanted, what mode of transportation would you choose? I’d pick something fun, like flying by paper airplane, if it were possible.
 Paper Airplane Night Flight Jumping out of the airplane might be fun too …
 Parachute Chicken … as long as your parachute opens! Eep! Maybe I should stick to something closer to the ground, like skateboarding.
 Skateboarding Chicken Then again, since I don’t have a skateboard anymore and I’m not a chicken, I’ll pick something I do on a regular basis.
 Fun While Grocery Shopping But only until they invent paper airplanes that you can fly in. What kind of transportation would you choose, if you could choose anything? Have you ever had grocery cart races? (I have!)
Yesterday my brother phoned to tell me he’d visited the British Lawn Mower Museum. He loved it, was the only one there, and described the ‘lawnmowers of the stars’ section which had lawnmowers belonging to celebrities. So I made this small story for him…
Filed under: flying, love, stars        
Filed under: flying, love, sea, winter      
This was created for a poster exhibit at an SCBWI conference a few years ago. (It's good to have friends!)www.jenniferthermes.comwww.art-words-life.blogspot.com
This is a piece of art I created as a cover proposal for SCBWI. I have been having fun working latley in acrylics.
I've painted endless number of flying things over the last few years, between the Fairy Chronicles (this is the cover from the second book in the series) and the Wind Dancers, which features flying horses.
Wings, wings, wings....
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, I’m totally in love with yours! Definitely following your blog from now on.
so good to see and hear you 
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Gotta try those! Am now browsing your site for Christmas present inspirations!