cover image Design Line: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Design Line: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Chris Oxlade, illus. by Mike Lemanski. Candlewick/Big Picture, $17.99 paper (16p) ISBN 978-0-7636-7121-1

Essentially an enormous, foldout visual timeline, this first title in the Design Line series traces the development of transportation on land, sea, and air. Images of 100 representative vehicles fill eight pages, from Robert Fulton’s Nautilus submarine to Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Lemanski contributes crisp digital illustrations of each vehicle in profile on the “front” side of the accordion-style book; schematic images of the vehicles reappear on the reverse side, along with capsule information about the Pullman sleeping car, Willys jeep, lunar rover, Segway, and many other vehicles. A highly appealing combination of visual artistry, transportation history, and a distinctive package. All ages. (Apr.)