Tuesday Storytime: Airplanes and Airports

With school getting out, there's lots of travel on the horizon, and air travel is stressful for lots of adults. Books about the process can help kids understand what's going on, and provide a sense of control and familiarity with the system, even if the adults are still longing for those mini-bottles.

The Airport Book
Lisa Brown
ISBN: 9781626720916
Really detailed comic-strip format (almost reminds me of a Richard Scarry book) follows a family (and a "lost" stuffed Monkey) through the process of getting to, through, and waiting in an airport, then getting onto, into, and settled into a flight, and then back out the other side. VERY detailed, and very darkly humorous about the lines and the waiting and the boredom.

Airport
Byron Barton
ISBN: 0690041691
Same idea as the first book, but much more simple. We also have more impressive clear blocky illustrations of airplanes, cockpits, and radio-control towers in this book, which leaves a more powerful visual impression. This simplified version really streamlines the human-centered portion of the process.

Miss Mouse Takes Off
Jan Ormerod
ISBN: 0688178715
From the perspective of a stuffed mouse lovey, we get the same process one final time. This time we really feel the boredom and time spent in the air, as well as the ample opportunities for things to get lost or mislaid along the way. We also get our first view of an airplane bathroom, which was VERY interesting to the kids. Details were about midway between The Airport Book and Airport, which works well for a final impression.

Tuesday Storytime: Airplanes!

Finally my turn again! When you're only doing storytime every other week, it's a long time when one gets cancelled. Last week we took a tour through some airplanes, as families look forward to holidays and visiting far-flung family or friends.

Airplanes Soaring! Turning! Diving!
Patricia Hubbell
Other than wanting to indict them for grave abuse of exclamation points on their title (seriously, people have to type that out) this is a seriously adorable and fact-filled early interest book about airplanes. Reads quick, a few fun vertically-oriented pages to mix things up a bit, and lots of weird faux-historical illustrations.

A B Cs on Wings
Ramon Olivera
Very well done. Super quick and easy to read, lay-out is STELLAR. Paper is crisp and weighty, colors are rich, designs are clear and stylized. Really truly super book.


Airport 
Byron Barton
Another good "slice of life" by Barton. This time we focus on the process of getting TO the airplane: all the boring bits of arriving at the airport and processing through the waiting rooms and into the plane. It's VERY dated: the illustrations are quite 70s, and of course there's no security to be seen, but the gist is the same, and a kid isn't going to notice the finer details. Perfect for making air travel seem routine and calm, while still keeping the fun and excitement of airplanes themselves.