Imagination takes flight in this masterfully illustrated, bouncing verse for the plane-obsessed. Beautifully composed drawings thrill, as biplanes, jet planes, prop planes and seaplanes take to the skies. Wiggins applies an old travel poster aesthetic to his digital illustrations--and delivers on their promise of adventure, enticing readers into the world of air travel. Soaring into a vast blue sky, he captures the feeling of unlimited space, the freedom of flying. When they are on the ground, his planes are epic, mammoth machines. Even in a storm--with the light bouncing through clouds, illuminating the plane from underneath--the effect is idyllic. His choices, from a warm palette, excellent use of pattern and a texture that alludes to the use of linen paper, make everything about this journey feel special. Lyon's informative, rhyming text touches on the mechanical (from plane parts and types) as well as the emotional (the experiences of both pilot and passenger). Her verse goes beyond enumerating a plane's basic purposes to affirming the spirit of flight and exploration: "Climb through clouds / heading for blue-- / just like a bird. / Air holds you." This exciting invitation to take to the air is one energetic and entertaining journey for adventurers and aviation lovers alike. (Picture book. 3-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

PreS-K-Lyon takes off to the sky with this exuberant book. Jaunty, bouncing-off-the-tongue rhyming text names aircraft parts, lists different kinds of planes, and describes passenger air-travel experiences, repeating the upbeat refrain, "Planes fly!" throughout. Wiggins's retro-style illustrations amplify the cheerful tone with bright, bold colors and strong, streamlined images. A wonderfully diverse cast of passengers in the aerobus includes a nervous little girl and a little boy. Everything radiates excitement, safety, and competence-even the ominous thunder clouds part for a plane's passage. A reassuring rundown of events that happen between buckling the seatbelt and touching down for landing (including a snack and a nap) makes this title helpful to those new to flying, but it just might fly off the shelves where transportation books are in high demand.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

For children intrigued by flight, Lyon has written an energetic and exciting book in rhyme about planes of all sorts : " Bi-planes / triplanes /gotta-love-the-sky-planes/ Prop planes /jet planes/ how-fast-can-youget-planes." With the look of 1930s travel posters, Wiggins's intensely colored pictures show planes at their most glamorous, zipping between storm clouds and swooping low over forest fires. Even the in-flight snacks look appealing. Perhaps the golden age of travel isn't over after all. DAREDEVIL The Daring Life of Betty Skelton Written and illustrated by Meghan McCarthy 48 pp. A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book, ages 4 to 8) In the 1930s, growing up near a Navy base in Pensacola, Fla., Betty Skelton fell in love with flight. A self-described "half-pint," Skelton nevertheless became a fearless stunt pilot, famous for cutting through a ribbon tied between two poles with her plane's propeller - while flying upside down. She later broke records in high-altitude flying, car racing and "boat jumping" - and trained as an astronaut. McCarthy's googly-eyed portraits make Skelton's story amusing as well as inspiring. JOURNEY Written and illustrated by Aaron Becker 40 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Though Becker has plenty of experience as an artist for films, "Journey" is his first book, and it's a masterwork. In a tale told solely through pictures, a lonely little girl in a dull, sepia-toned city picks up a red marker and draws a door on her bedroom wall. Through it, she enters a lushly detailed imaginary world where, with the marker's help, she floats and flies through a dramatic escapade and returns home with a friend. Though that marker will make you think of Crockett Johnson's " Harold and the Purple Crayon," Becker's book has a beauty distinctly its own. THE BOY AND THE AIRPLANE Written and illustrated by Mark Pett 40 pp. Simon & Schuster. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 10) Using a palette almost as quiet as his wordless text, Pett's witty if subdued picture book tells the story of a little boy who receives a toy airplane as a gift. After it lands out of reach on a roof, he tries everything he can think of (lasso, baseball, pogo stick, fireman's hose - even a ladder!) to get the plane down. Finally, the flight of a winged seed suggests another solution. Patience is amply rewarded, for both boy and reader. FLYING SOLO How Ruth Elder Soared Into Americas Heart By Julie Cummins Illustrated by Malene R. Laugesen Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9) In the 1920s, before Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic, Ruth Elder, a beauty queen with ambition, attempted a similar feat. Though she and her co-pilot had to ditch their plane, American Girl, two-thirds of the way across, Elder's pioneering spirit made her famous. She starred in two silent movies and took part in the first crosscountry air race flown by women, dismissively known as the Powder Puff Derby. Laugesen's big, dramatic illustrations give the reader a good sense of the landscapes - and fashions - of the early-20th-century setting. SARAH HARRISON SMITH ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books. Sarah Harrison Smith reviews several books for children about aviation and flying, including "Planes Fly!" by George Ella Lyon; "Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton," by Meghan McCarthy; "Journey," written by Aaron Becker; "The Boy and the Airplane," written by Mark Pett, and "Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared Into America's Heart," by Julie Cummins.

Lyon packs an impressive dose of aeronautical vocabulary into her succinct survey of "bi-planes / tri-planes / gotta-love-the-sky planes. / Prop planes / jet planes / how-fast-can-you-get planes" -- a vocabulary that's neatly explicated in Wiggins's sweeping spreads in which, for example, he underlines the loopy acrobatics of three "prop planes" with the straight contrail line of a needle-nosed jet. Meanwhile, leaving most of the defining of terms to a reader-aloud or knowledgeable tot, the author neatly shoehorns such things as "rudders, flaps / ailerons, tail" and "headset, radar / schedule, phone" into her jaunty verse. Segueing into planes' uses and "your" possible journey, Lyon hints at science ("air holds you") and outlines an experience that Wiggins brings to graphic life with deftly varied passengers in a pleasantly spacious aircraft interior; landscapes from the air; and a sunset lingering over city lights. His saturated colors, clarity of composition, strategic generalizations, and wealth of significant detail add up to a winning introduction that's nicely capped by Lyon's extension of the idea that "world's mighty big / but there's just one sky / and it's yours to travel. / Planes fly!" joanna rudge long (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Newcomer Wiggins's luminous artwork is an inspired choice for this celebration of airplanes, a companion to 2007's Trucks Roll! Crisp silhouettes and pale blue skies convey sleekness and speed, while the retro imagery suggests a series of vintage travel posters. Lyon's simple verse provides the scaffolding for powerful images: "Big air buses/ room-for-all-of-us-es./ Planes fly!" To accompany this, Wiggins draws a head-on portrait of a massive, gracefully contoured jet wing, drawn with a dynamism that reveals it as the masterpiece of 20th-century design that it is. Small details don't escape Wiggins's notice, either; in another spread, a wide-eyed boy is served dinner ("Eat a little snack") while a paunchy middle-aged passenger snores across the aisle ("Take a little nap"). Lyon describes the characteristics of flight and the different uses of airplanes, supplying plenty of official-sounding jargon to satisfy kids' thirst for information: "Rudders, flaps/ ailerons, tail/ steer the plane/ around storms or hail." But it's Wiggins's ability to draw absorbing and dramatic stories from each of Lyon's telegraphic phrases that makes this book soar. Ages 4-7. Author's agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

*Starred Review* From the opening sky-blue endpapers, showing the looping paths of paper airplanes launched by silhouetted children, to the concluding endpapers, in which a variety of planes trace similar looping patterns in the sky, this beautifully designed picture book focuses on flight. After introducing many types of aircraft, their purposes, and some of their features, it brings the viewer on board for the experience of flying in a passenger plane. Lyon's rhyming text includes staccato lines that name types of flying machines and communicate the experience of flight, alongside original, childlike phrases, such as Hand-built gliders / take-you-for-a-riders. / Big air buses / room-for-all-of-us-es. The text leaves plenty of room for illustration, and Wiggins takes full advantage of it in a series of striking images depicting planes in flight, airplane and airport personnel, and a diverse group of passengers. The digital illustrations include a variety of lovely textured effects suggesting light, shadow, and movement. Color is used for beauty and dramatic effect in some scenes, for warmth or definition in others, and in one double-page spread, to create a modern landscape of farmland and mountains as viewed from the air. Children intrigued by flight will enjoy every page of this dynamic picture book.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist