Description

The Wright Brothers proved man could fly in 1903. But flying in a straight line, low to the ground, for 12 seconds, was destined to become a novelty, unless Wilber and Orville could prove just what they flying machine could really do. In 1909, during New York’s party to itself, called the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, Wilbur flew circles around the Statue of Liberty, with a red canoe attached to his plane just in case he would have to land on water, and with millions of New Yorkers watching. Planes could turn! And Orville, in Germany, flew higher than man had ever flown, until his plane was just a speck in the sky. “I came down at a simply terrifying speed,” he said. “The whole plane shook.” And the crowd went wild. The rest is aviation history.

What Was My Inspiration?

I wrote this book with my good friend, author Louise Borden. We wrote it to help celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk. We didn’t want to tell the story of Kitty Hawk, though…we just knew there were other stories about the Wright Brothers that could be told. So we each read and read – biographies, books about flying, books about hot air balloons, newspaper articles, old flight logs – and we found our stories: Wilbur and the Red Canoe (he flew around the Statue of Liberty with a bright red canoe attached to the bottom of his flyer… Why, you ask?? Because he was proving something about flying - for that you will have to read the book -  and wanted to make sure he would float in the Harbor if it didn’t work!)and Higher, Orville, Higher (the Crown Prince of Germany rode in Orville’s plane shouting, “higher, Orville, higher!” but Orville didn’t go higher until he had safely put the Crown Prince on the ground and then Orville went higher in his flyer than any man had ever gone – and came down at a terrifying speed and JUST MISSED – for that you will have to read the book, too!)

Amazingly enough, I boarded a plane in New York City on the morning of September 11, 200TK to fly out to Ohio, to meet Louise, and to write this book. The tragic events of that day kept me grounded in New York. I pondered over this invention – the airplane – and how it has such power to be both a force of good for the world, and for destruction. I wondered how Wilbur and Orville would have felt if they had known all the ways the plane has been used to change our world.

Reviews

"These two events, marking one of the few times the almost inseparable brothers were apart, are uniquely re-created here. Fiore's detailed watercolors dramatically and accurately record the two venues. The narrative, too, is laced with engaging facts that are successfully married to the pictures. The engaging presentation ends with a short epilogue that completes the Wrights' story, an aviation time line, and two 1909 maps-one of Manhattan island with highlighted monuments, one of Europe."
- School Library Journal

"At last, a new twist on the aviator’s story – one that recognizes them as ‘the first celebrities of the 20th century.’"
> - School Library Journal

"In 1909, Wilbur and Orville showed the world what their flyer could do, and aviation history started!"
- Chicago Tribune