A Dream of Flight
Alberto Santos-Dumont's Race Around the Eiffel Tower
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Debut nonfiction duo Rob and Jef Polivka offer an illustrated madcap adventure in A Dream of Flight, a dynamic biography of Alberto Santos-Dumont, an inventor who risked everything to reach the skies. And sure enough, his successes and failures brought the world’s people closer together.
Ready? Set. Fly!
At the turn of the twentieth century, no aviation prize was more coveted in Europe than the Deutsch Prize. To win it, a pilot would have to fly a balloon from Paris’s Aero Club around the Eiffel Tower and back in thirty minutes or less. Who would be the first to succeed?
Alberto Santos-Dumont thought he could. His latest design, Airship No. 6, was perfected from the countless lessons he learned during previous crashes. On the morning of October 19, 1901, Santos was making good time in the race when disaster struck—his motor had sputtered to a stop mid-air! Would Santos make it to the finish line in time—let alone survive?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The brothers Polivka join forces on this iterative picture book biography of aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, who grows up fascinated by machinery on his family's Brazilian coffee plantation. After heading to France to study science and becoming inspired by a hot air balloon ride over the City of Light, Santos painstakingly designs a series of motorized airships. He perseveres through multiple failures and in 1901 wins the coveted Deutsch Prize 100,000 francs for piloting across town, around the Eiffel Tower, and back in 30 minutes, demonstrating sustained controlled flight. Rob Polivka's lively illustration style, reminiscent of Herg 's, offers an animated sense of adventure; one spread, sure to interest the engineering minded, features the first five attempted airships. Back matter includes a timeline that contextualizes the subject's accomplishments alongside other turn-of-the-century aviation milestones. Ages 4 8.
