Flying Machines

In this heavily illustrated and lightly informational model airplane kit, readers can learn about aerodynamics and the history of flight and create five aircraft of their own: two paper planes using tear-out sheets and three models from precut wood, neoprene, and plastic parts, which are provided in a cardboard container at the back of the book. Step-by-step instructions explain how to make each aircraft, while cartoons show them in flight. A puppetlike boy wearing aviator gear serves as a guide, whether from the cockpit, runway, or parachute, while a time line of the history of aviation runs along the bottom of the pages, taking readers from the first Chinese kites to the 2010 flight of a solar-powered craft. An accessible, edifying entry point into building model planes. Ages 8–up. (Aug.)