Roaring over my head

The Noisy Airplane Ride

by Mike Downs; illustrated by David Gordon

Photoshopped illustrations save this book from bogging down in technical jargon. Gordon used real pictures of airplanes and morphed them into something akin to acrylic paintings. You can make out every dial on the glowing panel, yet the plane becomes a ghostly silhouette at night.

But I still don’t know how to translate words like “thrust” into ordinary English, though I’m impressed Downs can fit rhymes around all the techno-babble. Written by a pilot, the book tries to de-mystify an airplane’s many odd pings, roars and rattles for the young traveler with some lively onomatopoeia, but I don’t see its appeal beyond a narrow audience of gadget-obsessed boys.

Rating: *\*\

Comments

[brettdl]

And I found it difficult making the various sounds for my son. After reading the book twice, I was kinda hoarse.