Airplanes offer endless fascination for children. How do airplanes stay in the air? Why do they not fall down when it rains? Why do they make so much noise? What happens at the airport? And why don’t airplanes flap their wings? Luckily, there are many wonderful books about airplanes to answer all these questions and more.
The 50 books on this list are about airplanes, flight, and flying. Here, you will find books that are educational (Jet Plane: how it works), entertaining (A Glorious Flight), inspiring (Who is Amelia Earhart), and encouraging hands-on exploration (Wright Brothers for kids).
Top 10 Favorite Airplane Books
3. The Magic School Bus Taking Flight: a book about Flight by Joanna Cole (4 and up) Mrs. Frizzle’s class takes a trip to the model airplane show and ends up taking a flight in a remote control plane. They are in for a wild run when the remote control gets broken and they have to figure out a way to land safely. My kids understand that adventures of the School Bus are not possible in real life and that makes them all the more exciting. The main flying concepts like “lift” and “push” are mentioned and illustrated.
Activities:
4. Jet Plane: How it works by David Macaulay (6 and up) This book makes the process of flying understandable to kids and their parents. For example, the wings of the jet airplane are curved on top and flat on the bottom. As the plane moves forward, “the air moves faster over the wings than under them. The faster air pulls up. The slower air pushes up. This creates a force called lift.” As always, David Macaulay manages to take big ideas like lift, thrust, and combustion chamber and break them into their components so that even a 7-year-old can feel like an expert on a subject. Macaulay’s illustrations are superb, and the diagrams contribute to understanding. The diagram that shows how the throttle is connected to a fuel tank that sends extra fuel to engines finally allowed me to see the process that I had only imagined in my head.
5. Going on a Plane (Usborne First Experience) (2 and up) This is the first airplane book we ever owned. I bought it before the first airplane flight with my oldest, just before he turned two. He loved this book then, and he still loves it now at seven! This book introduces children to all the things that are involved in airplane travel. From packing the bags to checking the luggage at the airport, from getting ready for take-off to landing… With this book, kids will definitely know what to expect at the airport and during their flight. There is some silliness to spice up somewhat boring events: daddy spills the content of Rosie’s basket in the airport, mommy’s hat flies off while getting off the plane. Looking for a duck hiding on each page never gets old. I definitely recommend reading this book (and taking it with you to read on a plane), if you are planning to be flying with small children. Activities: Sing some airplane songs and make a toilet paper roll airplane decorated with glitter with Child Care Lounge.
6. The Wright Brothers for Kids by Mary Kay Carson (6 and up) This amazing book offers a mixture of valuable information, rare photos from the Wright Brothers’ personal collection (no less), quality diagrams and illustrations, and hands on activities! How can it get better than that! I personally learned some things about the brothers and their inventions that I had never known before. My kids were impressed with the close relationship between brothers. 21 activities are included in the book.
7. From Birds to… aircraft: 21st century skills Innovation Library (2013) (7 and up) Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci tried to build a flying machine based on observations of birds back in the 15th century? Out of his observations came a book called Codex on the Flight of Birds, but none of his flying machines managed to fly. Another Italian inventor, Danian de Falcuis, even used chicken feathers to construct wings. He attached those chicken wings to his own arms and jumped off a castle wall. And you know what happened? He flew like a bird! Ok, not really. What happened was he fell down like a rock and broke a leg. This book is full of similarly exciting stories for children.
Activities: (1) Make and fly a kite (2) Read an article about an intricate interplay between Birds and Airplanes on Live Science. This article will promote a vivid discussion.
8. The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs (3 – 9) Finally! All the whirrs, chugs, and roars of an airplane are explained. This book – written by an airline pilot and a father of three – captured our hearts with its cute rhyming, onomatopoeia, and colorful illustrations. “Stomp, stomp, tromp/ down the Jetway with a grin/ take your seat and buckle in/ Wusshh… A vent above sends cool air/ It makes you blink and blows your hair…” If you are going on a plane and taking only one book with you, make it this one. You will not be stumped for an answer when you here, “What’s that noise?” Activity: This book is great for introducing the subject of Onomatopoeia to kids. Onomatopoeia refers to words that mimic the sound (or action) they represent. Moo, beep-beep, and bang-bang are all good examples. Read some great poems and talk about onomatopoeia with the help of this site.
9. The Glorious Flight by Alice Provensen (4 – 9) This Caldecott Medal winner is a historical fiction for kids at its best. It has humor, great illustrations (of course), and accurate facts. It talks about Louis Bleriot, the first man to fly across the English Channel in a flying machine of his own design and construction. Its narration style brings to my mind Amelia, an Oscar-winning French movie of about 10 years ago. Activity: A great point of discussion after reading this book is perseverance and the value of mistakes in invention. Berliot failed numerous times, broke bones, airplanes and lost money. Yes, he didn’t give up. Being good at something usually involves a lot of work. I find this guide to fostering Learn-from-mistakes environment super helpful.
10. The Little Airplane by Lois Lensky (2 – 8) We have yet to met Lois Lensky book that we haven’t liked and if you have kids who are interested in airplanes they will definitely love this book. There is just the right mix of text and color. We thought a good focus for the lesson to go with this book is “I want to be a Pilot.” We talked about what’s like to be a pilot, what kind of things pilots need to know and played Blind-fold landing game. To play this game: a child who is a pilot stands by one side of the room, his eyes are covered with a scarf, he needs to listen to the air traffic controller’s instructions “a bit to the left, now straight, a bit to the right,…” to get to the other side of the room and “land” safely. Activities: Airplanes games, songs, crafts and more from Mommy Lessons 101.
For the Little Ones (0-3)
11. Away in my airplane by Margaret Wise Brown
12. This Plane by Paul Collicut. Very colorful illustrations of large airplanes with one sentence per page. “This plane is made of wood and canvas.” “This plane is made of metal.” My 2-year old can not get enough of it. My 4-year old likes to trace the airplanes with tracing paper. And my 7-year old builds his models using the illustrations in this book.
13. Planes (Usborne Lift and Look)
14. Usborne Flip Flap Airport
15. Lettice: the Flying Rabbit by Mandy Stanley
16. Amazing airplanes by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker
17. Freddie goes on an airplane by Nicola Smee
18. Planes (Board Book) by Byron Barton
19. The story of Wright Brothers by Michelle Prater Burke
20. Airplane Flight: a lift-the-flap adventure by Susanna Leonard Hill
As They Grow (4-8)
24. The Airplane Alphabet book by Jerry Pallotta
25. All Aboard Airplanes by Frank Evans
26. Planes (National Geographic Kids) by Amy Shields
27. DK Big Book of Airplanes by Caroline Bingham and Anne Millard
28. Planes Fly! by George Ella Lyon
29. Airplanes: Soaring! Diving! Turning! by Patricia Hubbell
30. Airplane and Flying Machines (Scholastic First Discovery Books) by Donald Grant
31. Flying by Donald Crews
32. Angela’s Airplane by Robert Munsch
33. Sadie the airmail pilot by Kellie Strom
34. My First Airplane Trip by D. L. Madson
35. Airplanes by Cynthia Amoroso We like all the books in Big Machines At Work series. This book talks about the parts of the airplane, how airplanes are powered by engines or propellers, and how do airplanes fly. We like big color photos and large print.
36. I want to be a pilot by Dan Liebman
37. Up and Away: Taking a Flight by Marilyn Davis
38. Airplane (DK Mighty Machines series) by Christopher Maynard
39. My First Airplane Ride by Patricia Hubbell
For Very Serious Explorers
41. Science through Art: Flight by Hillary Devonshire
42. The Flying Book: everything you’ve ever wondered about flying on airplanes by David Blatner
43. Book of Flight: the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum
44. The Simple Science of Flight: from insects to Jumbo Jets by Henk Tennekes
45. Why don’t jumbo jets flap their wings by David Alexander
46. Fantastic Flights: 100 years of flying on the edge by Patrick O’Brien
47. Going Solo by Roald Dahl
48. Who is Amelia Earhart by Kate Boehm Jerome
49. A is for Airplane: an aviation alphabet by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle
50. Flight: Discover Science by Kim Taylor
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