About This Book
Reach for this book when you have a curious child who finds traditional history textbooks a bit too dry or when they are fascinated by how things work and how people fail before they succeed. It is a fantastic choice for kids who love quirky facts, dark humor, and high-energy storytelling. The book explores the timeline of human flight through the lens of trial and error, covering everything from ancient Chinese kites to the Wright Brothers with a focus on the gritty, often dangerous realities of early aviation. While the tone is consistently funny and irreverent, it subtly reinforces themes of resilience and the scientific method. It is perfectly suited for children aged 7 to 12 who enjoy a fast-paced narrative filled with illustrations. Parents will appreciate how it turns historical figures into relatable, flawed humans rather than untouchable statues, making the concept of invention feel accessible and exciting.
What Parents Should Know
Sensitive Topics
1. DISTRESS: The book contains descriptions of historical accidents and deaths associated with failed flight experiments. For instance, it mentions early aviators who fell to their deaths after jumping from heights with homemade wings. While presented with humor, sensitive children might find the reality of these accidents unsettling. 2. CONVERSATION: Parents should be prepared to discuss the ethics of early science, such as the use of prisoners or animals (like a sheep, duck, and rooster in a balloon) as test subjects for dangerous experiments.
Ideal Reader
A 9-year-old who loves Grossology or the Who Was series but wants more jokes and a faster pace. It's also perfect for reluctant readers who prefer broken-up text and illustrations over long paragraphs.
Parent Prep
This can be read cold, but parents might want to browse the section on tower jumpers if they have a child who is particularly sensitive to physical injury. A child asking, "Wait, did they really force prisoners to fly on kites just to see if they'd survive?"
Age Experience
Younger readers (7-8) will gravitate toward the silly illustrations and the "gross" factor. Older readers (10-12) will better appreciate the irony and the genuine technological progress described.
What Makes It Special
Unlike standard aviation histories, Deary focuses on the people who got it wrong. It celebrates the messiness of history rather than just the polished highlights.
Read plot summary
Part of the iconic Horrible Histories series, this volume tracks the evolution of human flight. It covers early attempts at aviation including Chinese prisoners attached to kites, the disastrous tower jumpers of the Middle Ages, the pioneering balloon flights of the Montgolfiers, and the eventual success of the Wright Brothers. The book uses a magazine-style layout with comic strips, quizzes, and humorous headlines to deliver factual historical data.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
Why do you think people kept trying to fly even after seeing so many others fail? What does that tell us about human curiosity?
2
The book mentions Chinese prisoners being sent up on kites. Do you think it is fair to use people in dangerous experiments if it helps science move forward?
3
Which of the 'horrible' flight failures did you find the most surprising, and what do you think the inventor learned from that mistake?
4
If you lived in the time of the Montgolfier brothers, would you have volunteered to be the first person in a hot air balloon? Why or why not?
