Tag Archives: Transportation

Let’s fly : Barrington Irving’s record-breaking flight around the world

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Written by Barrington Irving and Chana Stifle; illustrated by Shamar Knight-Justice

Barrington Irving is the first Black man and (at the time) the youngest person to complete a solo flight around the world. His life and inspirational flight are detailed in this picture book biography. Barrington, born in Jamaica and living in Florida, played football in school as a way to move past the “badgering” of his classmates. One day, his life changed when he met a Black pilot at his parents’ bookstore. The pilot, Captain Gary Robinson, asked “Have you ever thought of becoming a pilot?” This changed Barrington’s life. Captain Robinson gifted him his first lesson and after that Barrington worked hard, studied hard and practiced, earning his pilot’s license. Captain Robinson challenged him to help others like he had helped Barrington and he created an after school STEM program. He didn’t stop there, though. He wanted to inspire kids even more. So, he decided to fly solo around the world. It was hard to get the plane, plan the trip and find the funding to do it all. But, he persevered and succeeded, culminating in a record-setting flight of 26,800 miles in 97 days.

In addition to the story of his life and flight, this book shares more details such as a two page spread of the a cockpit with labels, a map of his flight path with stops, a timeline, facts, bibliography and some great quotes from Barrington. Given the extras, this book is a great fit for a variety of ages and reading levels. Illustrations are crisp and fit the text nicely.

Add this to your biography section and it will fly off the shelf! Highly recommended.

Aston Martin Valkyrie

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by Kaitlyn Duling

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

The Aston Martin Valkyrie is a very special car – only 150 have been made and the starting price is over $3,000,000! This is a hybrid model, with a powerful gas engine and an electric motor as well. Because it is so rare, this car is popular at car shows and people stop to stare when one drives by. Readers will dream about seeing one of these cars one day!

Audi RS E-Tron GT

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by Kaitlyn Duling

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

The Audi RS E-Tron GT is an all electric car that is super fast and luxurious. It was first made in 2021 and has a driving range of nearly 300 miles. There are a lot of plans for this model, including animated lights and, possibly, a smart version in the future!

Ferrari SF90 Stradale

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by Kaitlyn Duling

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale is a special car. It is one of Ferrari’s fastest models and go from 0 mph to 60 mph in just TWO seconds! It’s also a hybrid, with three electric motors and one V8 engine. It was first built in 2019. Readers will love the accompanying photos to this fact-filled book about the Ferrari SF90 Stradale. It’s quite a machine!

Mercedes – AMG GT

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by Kaitlyn Duling

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

The GT, aka Grand Tourer, is a fast, luxurious Mercedes model that was introduced in 2014. The last one was made in 2021 and next year they might reintroduce it. Young car enthusiasts will recognize the model from its work on the race track as a safety car. Of course, the famous Mercedes Benz badge on the front grill is a huge clue as to its maker. This is a fun, fact-filled book.

McLaren Elva

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by Kaitlyn Duly

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

There are some fun facts in McLaren Elva that readers will find fascinating. One fact is that this car is designed without a windshield (although buyers can request one). Another fun fact is that the price starts at $1.6 million dollars and only 149 have been produced. New McLarens will be hybrid or electric. But, they will still be fast! Illustrations and many facts make this book a winner. And, I haven’t even told you about the gold heat shield on the engine yet…

Lamborghini Aventador

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by. Kaitlyn Duly

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

Lamborghini Aventador describes a luxurious car that many readers might recognize. That’s because it has been in several action movies. This car’s design was inspired by the F-35 jet and it can come with really cool scissor doors per the buyer’s request. This book won’t stay on the shelf for long as the topic is exciting and book is filed with cool facts and photos. Recommended.

Ferrari 296

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by Kaitlyn Duly

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

Ferrari 296 opens with a red Ferrari zipping home and being plugged in – it’s a hybrid! This hybrid can go 0-62 miles per how in less than 3 seconds, with a top speed of 205 mph. There’s a lot of information packed into a few words and some amazing photos of this luxury model. Another great book from the Cool Cars series!

Maserati MC20

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by Kaitlyn Duly

“Cool Cars” series literally says it all in the series’ name. These are books about fast, luxurious and fun cars that are, well, COOL! High interest topics paired with a load of brilliant photos and accessible text make this 28 book set a must-have in your library. Nonfiction elements include: Table of Contents, glossary, index, bolded words and labeled illustrations. Each book has the important facts about a car like its engine type, history, size, speed and future plans of the manufacturers. This photo-heavy, high-low series will be popular among your patrons!

Maserati MC20 describes the Italian luxury vehicle that was announced for production in 2020 (hence the “20” in its name). This speedy sports car is built for the road not the track and bears the famous Maserati badge on the front grill – Neptune’s trident. Future plans include an all – electric model by 2030. Young readers will love to learn about this car. Recommended.

Biking

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by Lisa Owings

Blastoff! Readers Level 2: Let’s Get Outdoors is a ten book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustration, headings and bold typed words. Each book has high interest photos and details an outdoor activity/sport. Gear lists and safety equipment/protocol are addressed. A diverse array of people are shown participating in each activity. Readers will see themselves out there having fun with theses book. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

Biking is a great introduction to an activity that can a slower- paced or fast and adrenaline rushing. People are shown biking along trails, the roads and doing tricks or racing. I like that there is a photo of an adaptive bike rider, showing that it is an accessible outdoor activity. Safety and gear needs are noted and the reader learns that most bike friendly city in the world is Copenhagen – a fun fact to round out a nice introduction to this outdoor sport.