Brian R. Page

This book for Middle Grade readers and up begins with an inspiring forward by Colonel Kim “KC” Campbell, a US Air Force Command Pilot, who shares her fifth grade dream, eventually realized, of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot. She describes her experiences with flying including a harrowing episode in which her A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter jet was hit with a surfacer-to-air missile over Baghdad, Iraq, and how she saved herself and the plane thanks to a lot of hard training. She advises show more readers that dreams can be achieved, but it takes a lot of work, time, and the ability to pick oneself up after mistakes and maintain a positive attitude.

The author then begins his story of the Wright Brothers - Wilbur born on April 16, 1867, and Orville born four years later, on August 19, 1871. But this isn’t a biography, Page insists. Rather, he takes a look at the brothers as engineers, and how their dedication to learning, skill at problem solving, acquired knowledge of mechanics, determination, and resourcefulness, resulted in the invention of a workable airplane. The author gives credit to others who helped the Wright Brothers with their ideas, including the noted railroad engineer Octave Chanute, whose contributions are often omitted by history in the ever-present attempt to create heroes without looking at whose shoulders they stood upon.

Throughout the book Page takes us through the detailed, step-by-step process of the challenges encountered by the Wrights and how they solved them. Readers will learn about how they came up with ideas for aerodynamic control; determining the amount of dynamic pressure of the air and how it affects wing direction; calculating drag; establishing three-axis control (vertical, lateral, and longitudinal); and much more. Although Page explains these concepts as he goes along, he also includes a detailed glossary at the back.

The book also contains a large number of the Wrights’s photos that have been colorized for ease of making out details, diagrams, and other relevant pictures.

Evaluation:: Page excels at producing analogies to help understand the concepts he explores. Often he provides experiments readers can do for a better grasp of them, such as showing how, when you stick your hand out the window of a moving car and move it up and down, you can see how “coefficient of lift” works.

To me, the most valuable contribution of this book is in demonstrating that inventions don’t just “happen” like bolts of lightening out of the blue. Rather, they take a lot of work, a lot of research, collaboration, a lot of failures, and the willingness to keep going in spite of repeated obstacles. show less

Even though my interests tend more toward literature and art, I couldn't resist the premise of being "elbow-to-elbow with the brothers as they solve the many technical challenges" and the author did not disappoint! I have read middle-grade books on the Wright Brothers before, but this one focuses more on the process of design and invention, even going as far as to explain some of the mathematical calculations they use. The writing style was engaging, humorous at times (without being show more distracting), and the author's passion is evident throughout the book. The photographs were absolutely stunning, having been cleaned up and colorized to give the reader more a feel of what it looked like to be there. Although the focus of the book was more on the engineering side of things rather than being a biography of the Wright brothers, it was a satisfying balance of both. Highly recommended! show less

"The Wright Engineers: Inventing the Airplane" by Brian Page is an excellent history of how Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered flight. However, it is much more than a simple biography. Page's thesis is that inventors and engineers are not geniuses; they are hard workers who think through problems and find solutions without "light bulb moments." There is plenty of evidence to support that thesis.

Throughout the book, readers will confront challenges through the eyes of the show more Wright Brothers and learn what steps they took to find solutions. Simple diagrams - many of them from the original hand of the Wright Brothers - and succinct captions help readers understand what the problems of inventing the airplane. Page's writing, while passionate, is not nuanced. That's a good thing for this type of book. Text is made more readable with clear headings, appropriate chapter breaks, indented quotes, lists, and bold or italicized text. Appendices, a glossary, and a list of sources round out the book, but there is no index. There are also wonderful period photographs and contemporary photographs.

Although the book is geared toward middle-aged readers, I found it quite informative as a lifelong folloer of the Wright Brothers. The approach of book - showing their journeys through trial and setback - was new to me. Armchair historians like me as well as engineers will find that "The Wright Engineers" is like an engaging coffee table book. show less

Wow, an outstanding book! Beautiful cover, quality pages, and full of information for young readers at 118 pages. Because it's for young readers I really appreciate the sources pages and the explanation for why it's important to include and reference. Also included are a glossary and appendices for Wright Brothers' aircraft specifications and calculating drag. There are several learning opportunities for learning to calculate foundational concepts using simple inexpensive materials, e.g., show more bicycle wheel testing for wind balance, balancing a yardstick for understanding pitch control, and manipulating a cereal box for wind warping simulations. In addition to being educational, I appreciate the historical storytelling! Great chapter titles such as "Simple and Ingenious", "Birth of a Vision," and "It All Starts With Homework Of Course." Great quality reproductions of historically important photographs and correspondence. I was only surprised by the lack of illustrations as I interpreted the explanation of the book to mean that many drawing illustrations would be included whereas it's actually photographs and some diagrams, but I'm not disappointed as there are many photographs and they're large and great to engage young readers. Recommend very highly, especially for a STEM library. show less