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The Wright Brothers By Freedman Russell Wright Wilbur Wright Orville
The first powered sustained and controlled airplane flight and the men behind it A Newbery honor Book
Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
11 people are currently reading
833 people want to read
About the author
Russell Freedman
90 books131 followersRussell A. Freedman was an American biographer and the author of nearly 50 books for young people. He may be known best for winning the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.
He grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press and as a publicity writer. His nonfiction books ranged in subject from the lives and behaviors of animals to people in history. Freeedman's work has earned him several awards, including a Newbery Honor each for Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery in 1994 and The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane in 1992, and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.
Freedman traveled extensively throughout the world to gather information and inspiration for his books. His book, Confucius: The Golden Rule was inspired by his extensive travels through Mainland China, where he visited Confucius' hometown in modern day QuFu, in the Shantung Province.
He grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press and as a publicity writer. His nonfiction books ranged in subject from the lives and behaviors of animals to people in history. Freeedman's work has earned him several awards, including a Newbery Honor each for Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery in 1994 and The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane in 1992, and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.
Freedman traveled extensively throughout the world to gather information and inspiration for his books. His book, Confucius: The Golden Rule was inspired by his extensive travels through Mainland China, where he visited Confucius' hometown in modern day QuFu, in the Shantung Province.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
October 16, 2010
Russell Freedman’s books are just fantastic. In each one, he focuses in on an area of history that fascinates him, connects the dots into a cohesive narrative that tells a story with a beginning, middle and end, and then enriches the verbal with visuals that match up perfectly, usually from primary sources. And he does so in a hundred pages or so.
‘The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane’ is no exception. Freedman’s got a good story. Wilbur and Orville Wright were a couple of nerdy kids who loved tools and tinkering. They had the advantages of a middle class life, made possible by their preacher father, a rising star in the United Brethren Church. But neither finished high school. Their mother died from tuberculosis. They had no corporate sponsors, no sponsors at all, to back their experiments in flight. Through a combination of luck—getting into the bicycle business just as two-wheeled peddling became a national craze—and stick-to-itiveness, they were able to change history.
It’s an exaggeration to say the Wright Brothers ‘invented’ the airplane, but not much of one. While contemporaries also produced motor-propelled flying machines, Wilbur and Orville realized the key was not just getting the dang things in the air, but keeping them up there. They really can make the claim to the first sustained and controlled flight.
I read Freedman’s book because a student with whom I’m working was reading the National Geographic-published ‘Airborne: A Photobiography of Wilbur and Orville Wright,’ by Mary Collins, for a book report. It was interesting and enlightening to compare two works. At the same time, I read Paul Clee’s ‘Before Hollywood: From Shadow Play to the Silver Screen,’ another history book aimed at younger readers.
One reason I liked Freedman more than Collins and Clee was that ‘The Wright Brothers’ was more straightforward and clear. ‘Airborne’ intersperses narrative with tinted photos overlayed with quotes from the brothers and periodicals of the day. ‘Before Hollywood’ occasionally presents information in sidebars, rather than in the main body of text. I suspect that such book layout, designed, I’m sure, to catch the reader’s attention and draw him in, can be distracting and confusing. I’m convinced it is for me.
This is a style engrained in schools’ social studies presentation. Look at nearly any textbook.
Usually suffering from authorship by committee, these books often seem drained of the enthusiasm that a single writer genuinely involved with the entire scope of his work, like Freedman, brings to the text. Their neutral, stilted prose is an unappetizing draw, so perhaps publishers figure that by jazzing up the graphics, they’ll get kids excited. It doesn’t work.
I know this is generalizing, but so be it. History in elementary grades, and in high school, is almost always boring, boring, boring. Sidebars, overlays, and other digressions from a consistent and linear narrative serve only to obfuscate central concepts that are delivered in a lackluster, bland style.
When kids really engage with history, they get excited. You can see it when they read historical novels, or watch the History Channel, or even, on occasion, read a work such as ‘The Wright Brothers,’ or another Freedman book I just finished, the recently published ‘The War to End All Wars.’ They want a story.
But they are rarely given that opportunity.
Add to this requirements to ‘research’ history on the internet, where dubious and trustworthy sources are as easily accessed, with lots and lots of possible distractions, and you’ve got a world that is failing to give children a sense of historical context, and the critical tools to evaluate and make use of what they’ve learned.
It’s a world that needs more Russell Freedmans, and more books like ‘The Wright Brothers.’
Highly recommended for fourth graders on up.
‘The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane’ is no exception. Freedman’s got a good story. Wilbur and Orville Wright were a couple of nerdy kids who loved tools and tinkering. They had the advantages of a middle class life, made possible by their preacher father, a rising star in the United Brethren Church. But neither finished high school. Their mother died from tuberculosis. They had no corporate sponsors, no sponsors at all, to back their experiments in flight. Through a combination of luck—getting into the bicycle business just as two-wheeled peddling became a national craze—and stick-to-itiveness, they were able to change history.
It’s an exaggeration to say the Wright Brothers ‘invented’ the airplane, but not much of one. While contemporaries also produced motor-propelled flying machines, Wilbur and Orville realized the key was not just getting the dang things in the air, but keeping them up there. They really can make the claim to the first sustained and controlled flight.
I read Freedman’s book because a student with whom I’m working was reading the National Geographic-published ‘Airborne: A Photobiography of Wilbur and Orville Wright,’ by Mary Collins, for a book report. It was interesting and enlightening to compare two works. At the same time, I read Paul Clee’s ‘Before Hollywood: From Shadow Play to the Silver Screen,’ another history book aimed at younger readers.
One reason I liked Freedman more than Collins and Clee was that ‘The Wright Brothers’ was more straightforward and clear. ‘Airborne’ intersperses narrative with tinted photos overlayed with quotes from the brothers and periodicals of the day. ‘Before Hollywood’ occasionally presents information in sidebars, rather than in the main body of text. I suspect that such book layout, designed, I’m sure, to catch the reader’s attention and draw him in, can be distracting and confusing. I’m convinced it is for me.
This is a style engrained in schools’ social studies presentation. Look at nearly any textbook.
Usually suffering from authorship by committee, these books often seem drained of the enthusiasm that a single writer genuinely involved with the entire scope of his work, like Freedman, brings to the text. Their neutral, stilted prose is an unappetizing draw, so perhaps publishers figure that by jazzing up the graphics, they’ll get kids excited. It doesn’t work.
I know this is generalizing, but so be it. History in elementary grades, and in high school, is almost always boring, boring, boring. Sidebars, overlays, and other digressions from a consistent and linear narrative serve only to obfuscate central concepts that are delivered in a lackluster, bland style.
When kids really engage with history, they get excited. You can see it when they read historical novels, or watch the History Channel, or even, on occasion, read a work such as ‘The Wright Brothers,’ or another Freedman book I just finished, the recently published ‘The War to End All Wars.’ They want a story.
But they are rarely given that opportunity.
Add to this requirements to ‘research’ history on the internet, where dubious and trustworthy sources are as easily accessed, with lots and lots of possible distractions, and you’ve got a world that is failing to give children a sense of historical context, and the critical tools to evaluate and make use of what they’ve learned.
It’s a world that needs more Russell Freedmans, and more books like ‘The Wright Brothers.’
Highly recommended for fourth graders on up.
May 6, 2025
not usually my kind of book... I had to read it for school and honestly found it pretty boring, but the pictures were cool!
December 12, 2013
This was given as additional reading material for my son's history class. Whatever. First of all, this is an adult book, long, boring, and in black and white. There is no desire to read this book, from me or my children. The only person that I could see liking this book would be a lover of all things airplane. I tried to read it, but fell asleep after a few pages. In any case, not something children would be interested in reading, although it has some good pictures of the Wright brothers and the airplanes/biplanes.
July 4, 2022
Book: The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane
Author: Russell Freedman
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars
This is another library sale find! I love getting books used because I feel like I am more willing to take a chance. This one is no different. We follow the Wright brothers as they invent the first airplane. Told in both text and photographs, this gives readers an amazing visual experience of the Wright Brothers’ quest for flight.
Let me start by saying that this is a children’s book. However, it does not read like other children’s books that I have read. This is not geared toward younger readers. While the other content is kid-friendly, the language and writing are more for upper elementary, middle school, and high school. It has a good bit of information about the science and history of flight, which would make this a great source to use for both history and science classes. The photographs allow readers to see what it was like to be there when the Wright brothers flew. There is no colour or anything like that, which is something I like. It makes the whole experience feel even that much more real.
The whole idea of bringing history alive to children, especially at the middle school level, brings engagement. Would my students probably not pay all that much attention to the text? Probably. Will they pay attention to the photographs? Yes, then they will want to know what is going on in the photographs and will start to look at the text. Whenever I teach about flight, I always have my students design and fly a paper aeroplane. Again, this is bringing the science and history in this book alive. They get to be the Wright Brothers. They have to go through the techniques to build and, later, improve on their design. The photographs allow them to see how the Wright Brothers have to make changes and how they didn’t always have it right. The text gives them ideas on how to make adjustments. That’s how you sell the book. You take what the author has given you and make it work.
Overall, I do highly recommend this title.
Author: Russell Freedman
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars
This is another library sale find! I love getting books used because I feel like I am more willing to take a chance. This one is no different. We follow the Wright brothers as they invent the first airplane. Told in both text and photographs, this gives readers an amazing visual experience of the Wright Brothers’ quest for flight.
Let me start by saying that this is a children’s book. However, it does not read like other children’s books that I have read. This is not geared toward younger readers. While the other content is kid-friendly, the language and writing are more for upper elementary, middle school, and high school. It has a good bit of information about the science and history of flight, which would make this a great source to use for both history and science classes. The photographs allow readers to see what it was like to be there when the Wright brothers flew. There is no colour or anything like that, which is something I like. It makes the whole experience feel even that much more real.
The whole idea of bringing history alive to children, especially at the middle school level, brings engagement. Would my students probably not pay all that much attention to the text? Probably. Will they pay attention to the photographs? Yes, then they will want to know what is going on in the photographs and will start to look at the text. Whenever I teach about flight, I always have my students design and fly a paper aeroplane. Again, this is bringing the science and history in this book alive. They get to be the Wright Brothers. They have to go through the techniques to build and, later, improve on their design. The photographs allow them to see how the Wright Brothers have to make changes and how they didn’t always have it right. The text gives them ideas on how to make adjustments. That’s how you sell the book. You take what the author has given you and make it work.
Overall, I do highly recommend this title.
March 26, 2018
Personal response
This book was very informative for me. I learned a lot about the Wright brothers and how they invented the airplane. It helped me write my essay, and it was a very credible source. I like how it laid everything out in chronological order. Everything was always easy to find.
Plot Summary
The book starts from the brothers´ beginnings as children and ends with their deaths. It talks about how they were always working together during their childhood to build and repair their toys, and break them again. This led to the opening of their own bicycle repair shop, after several printing presses. They used their mechanical skills to build the airplane and successfully fly it for the first time ever. After this, the book talks about how they plane evolves throughout the rest of the brothers´ lives. It doesn’t spend very much time on this because most of the book is also spent on talking about how they invented the plane and all the working parts in it.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book to a middle or high schooler who has an interest in flight or history. I think these groups would like this book because it talks about the physics of the airplane and all the history about it. It is very informative about both subjects and the author clearly did his research. I believe that anyone dreaming of flying would love this book.
This book was very informative for me. I learned a lot about the Wright brothers and how they invented the airplane. It helped me write my essay, and it was a very credible source. I like how it laid everything out in chronological order. Everything was always easy to find.
Plot Summary
The book starts from the brothers´ beginnings as children and ends with their deaths. It talks about how they were always working together during their childhood to build and repair their toys, and break them again. This led to the opening of their own bicycle repair shop, after several printing presses. They used their mechanical skills to build the airplane and successfully fly it for the first time ever. After this, the book talks about how they plane evolves throughout the rest of the brothers´ lives. It doesn’t spend very much time on this because most of the book is also spent on talking about how they invented the plane and all the working parts in it.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book to a middle or high schooler who has an interest in flight or history. I think these groups would like this book because it talks about the physics of the airplane and all the history about it. It is very informative about both subjects and the author clearly did his research. I believe that anyone dreaming of flying would love this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2012
In The Wright Brothers How They Invented the Airplane, author Russell Freedman draws the reader in to the familiar tale of two brothers who over 100 years ago took to the sky on their glider. I listened on CD to the unabridged version of the text performed by Knighton Bliss. Bliss’ evenly paced recording brought Freedman’s words to life. As you listen, the text takes on the tone of a PBS documentary sans video. The listener hears about the close-knit Wright family, we learn that the patriarch Bishop Milton Wright was a minister and that Orville and Wilbur were as “inseparable as twins.”
Through ten chapters, Bliss narrates giving the listener intimate access into the lives of the Wright Brothers through first and second hand accounts. In addition to the Wright Brothers, the aviation contributions of others, such as Chanute, Lilienthal, and Langley were chronicled. The hard copy of the book features original photos by the Wright Brothers interspersed throughout. The compact disc has a bonus disc of some of the same photos, which may be viewed by computer.
While I commend Bliss’ reading of the material, the nature of the text made me wish for the visual support pictures would provide; there were only thirty on the bonus cd. I would recommend using the cd in conjunction with a hard copy of the text for students in third grade or higher who may be inquisitive about the topic but in need of linguistic support. This text could be used in a unit about the Wright Brothers, or as part of a series of inventors or specifically, pioneers of flight. As a challenge, older students may also research others inventors and innovators with no formal training in the field which they’ve significantly impacted. A lead in for this project could be Balloons Over Broadway about the life of puppeteer Tony Sarg.
Through ten chapters, Bliss narrates giving the listener intimate access into the lives of the Wright Brothers through first and second hand accounts. In addition to the Wright Brothers, the aviation contributions of others, such as Chanute, Lilienthal, and Langley were chronicled. The hard copy of the book features original photos by the Wright Brothers interspersed throughout. The compact disc has a bonus disc of some of the same photos, which may be viewed by computer.
While I commend Bliss’ reading of the material, the nature of the text made me wish for the visual support pictures would provide; there were only thirty on the bonus cd. I would recommend using the cd in conjunction with a hard copy of the text for students in third grade or higher who may be inquisitive about the topic but in need of linguistic support. This text could be used in a unit about the Wright Brothers, or as part of a series of inventors or specifically, pioneers of flight. As a challenge, older students may also research others inventors and innovators with no formal training in the field which they’ve significantly impacted. A lead in for this project could be Balloons Over Broadway about the life of puppeteer Tony Sarg.
July 16, 2012
Russell Freedman's books are always so interesting. You can tell he has thoroughly researched his subjects, and he presents them very well.
March 15, 2020
I finally care about the Wright Brothers!
(Wow, that sounds...awful. But it's true. I never really appreciated them before. But Russell Freedman has changed that. Thank you, Russell Freedman.)
(Wow, that sounds...awful. But it's true. I never really appreciated them before. But Russell Freedman has changed that. Thank you, Russell Freedman.)
December 1, 2017
This book is a non-fiction biographical book about Orville and Wilbur Wright it is intended for students between 6th and 8th grade. It received the 1991 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award Honor Book (Nonfiction) award, the 1992 Golden Kite Award and the 1992 Newbery Medal Honor Book award. This book is all about how The Wright Brothers invented the airplane just as the title suggests. I enjoyed the real photographs and how it explained why the brothers were successful. I think the portion of the book that explained their experience in the bicycle trade helped them view flight differently than other who tried was especially interesting. I however don't think this book would draw in readers because it is extremely factual. Also because the pictures are in black and white I have found younger readers tend to find these books "boring" although that is not my opinion of this story.
12/1/17
12/1/17
May 24, 2023
Ok, it must be worthy of its Newbery Honor designation. Otherwise, why would I read every word in just one afternoon, when I have piles of other books waiting for me from the same library haul? I don't even have an interest in aviation or things mechanical!
I love that this is both about the inspirational, hard-working young men (and their mother, the mechanically-inclined tinkerer, younger sister, the college graduate, and the rest of the family), and about the technical challenges & accomplishments. A youngster reading this, who is interested in aviation, would likely be thrilled. The photos and backmatter make it worthy of being kept in libraries even if the community's kids aren't currently interested.
I love that this is both about the inspirational, hard-working young men (and their mother, the mechanically-inclined tinkerer, younger sister, the college graduate, and the rest of the family), and about the technical challenges & accomplishments. A youngster reading this, who is interested in aviation, would likely be thrilled. The photos and backmatter make it worthy of being kept in libraries even if the community's kids aren't currently interested.
October 15, 2020
Biography
Newbery Honor Book 1992 & Bluebonnet Award Nominee 1992
https://www.amazon.com/Biographies-Ne...
Grades 4-8
• The biography read authentic biography. A reader can tell that it is because the book does not have any type of dialogue presented is not fictionalized but taken from newspapers and journals. Another way a reader could tell is the physical pictures taken. The pictures depict every event that the author mentions, and the only illustrations were hand-drawn from journals showing different plans for the best aerodynamics.
Newbery Honor Book 1992 & Bluebonnet Award Nominee 1992
https://www.amazon.com/Biographies-Ne...
Grades 4-8
• The biography read authentic biography. A reader can tell that it is because the book does not have any type of dialogue presented is not fictionalized but taken from newspapers and journals. Another way a reader could tell is the physical pictures taken. The pictures depict every event that the author mentions, and the only illustrations were hand-drawn from journals showing different plans for the best aerodynamics.
May 15, 2019
This book is about the Wright brothers when they were young and how they grew up to invent the airplane. Wilbur and Orville Wright began working in their father’s bike repair shop. They eventually had an interest in aviation and started engineering planes.
The writing style of the book is simple and easy to read. The book really explains everything in detail. It includes pictures, which are aesthetically appealing and help move the story forward. I would recommend this book for middle school students.
- Review by Anonymous, Grade 7
The writing style of the book is simple and easy to read. The book really explains everything in detail. It includes pictures, which are aesthetically appealing and help move the story forward. I would recommend this book for middle school students.
- Review by Anonymous, Grade 7
May 20, 2019
The late Russell Freedman (1929–2018) intended this book for middle-school children, but there's no reason why adults cannot enjoy and learn from it as well. Freedman’s prose is clear without descending to the pedestrian or condescending; and the dozens of original glass-plate photographs included are dramatic and beautiful, nearly works of art in themselves. We can be grateful that the Wright brothers were as deliberate about photographing their progress in aeronautical research as they were with the research itself.
December 12, 2023
Stuff I didn’t know about the brothers included 1) their father was a Church of the Brethren minister; 2)their father and mother were supportive, but their mother had more of the engineering mind (not really too surprising); 3) they had three other siblings - two older brothers and a (younger?) sister. 4) Their mother died before their successful flight; and 5) Neither Wilbur nor Orville ever married.
This book, written for children, and winner of a Newbery award, shows the process of going into the cycling business and then launching their adventure from research and relationships with other scholars and mentors. We see the fame, the financial ups and downs, and the process of going from an okay
This book, written for children, and winner of a Newbery award, shows the process of going into the cycling business and then launching their adventure from research and relationships with other scholars and mentors. We see the fame, the financial ups and downs, and the process of going from an okay
July 30, 2025
This is not a biography of the Wright brothers, except incidentally. This is a focused look, practically step by step, based on the Wright brothers own photographs, of how they invented airplanes. As such, it is a fairly technical book but the language is understandable by youth. There is a section in the after matter about how they actually learned photography alongside their aeroplane inventions. They did their own photo developing as well as building all the parts for their planes. Even a friend made the first engines for their planes at first! This won a Newbery Honor Award in 1992.
July 24, 2017
I labeled this book, The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane, in the Informational Book: Biography genre. I chose this book because I live so closely to the Wright Memorial so I recognized the cover immediately, and fell in love with all the photographs that are throughout the story. I enjoyed how Freedman (the author) portrayed the Wright Brothers, which was as inventors and heroes but real people who were very personable.
Read
July 25, 2017The Wright Brothers were aviation pioneers who invented, built, and flew the most successful airplane. This book brings light to the creative process of creating a new tool of transportation and and invention that would unknowingly be groundbreaking for the 20th century.
Literary Awards: Newbery Honor (1992
APA Citation: Freedman, R. (2009). The Wright brothers how they invented the airplane. Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio.
Literary Awards: Newbery Honor (1992
APA Citation: Freedman, R. (2009). The Wright brothers how they invented the airplane. Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio.
May 26, 2023
Today’s children are so far removed from the early inventions of the 20th century, it’s nice to have advanced picture books to show them what they need to know. The author, Russell Freedman, does a wonderful job of depicting the primal invention of airplanes in this book. Orville Wright lived long enough to see the transformation of his simple aircraft to much more sophisticated flying machines, and he became a wealthy man as a result.
October 6, 2023
This Newberry Honor Book tells the story of Wilbur & Orville Wright from their childhood to their famous flight in Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903 and also what they continued to do after that time. I enjoyed the actual photographs taken by the Wright Brothers of their many gliders and flyers. I read this after a visit to Kitty Hawk, NC and was able to better relate to the area where they did a lot of their trial flights.
December 16, 2016
It was informational, but it was not my favorite by Freedman. I think that it was less personal than some of his other pieces. It did not catch my eye and I found myself not retaining interest throughout the book. I think this also is because I am not very interested in flying. If I were interested in airplanes, I think I would appreciate this book a lot more.
October 16, 2018
I have spent time on the Outer Banks of North Carolina where the Wright Brothers performed their magic of inventing the airplane at Kitty Hawk. I learned the idea that two smart brothers figured out the science of speed and lift. This book maps out each step that these genius brothers took as they discovered flight. It also covers what other things happened in their lives. This is a great book.
March 24, 2022
Freeman never disappoints. Great original photos by the Wright brothers. Amazing what they did with their passion, resources, and relationship to each other. Wonder what they would have thought about the moon landing- not that long after Orville’s death. Wish more nonfiction would get Newbery notice. Seems like the 90s had quite a few honor books.
April 21, 2018
This Biography book tells how the Wright brothers invented the airplane. From their stuggles to their achievements. Personally not a huge fan of Biographies but this is fit as a children's book and is suitable for them! Lots of pictures for them to relay the text.
February 9, 2019
This wasn't an interesting, enjoyable read for me personally. But at the same time, if you enjoy reading informative non-fiction books down this line, go for it! It is a well researched book. I read some things about the Wright Brothers that I didn't know before.
January 20, 2021
I read this book with my son as part of his history books for the year and it is a really great resource to learn all about the Wright Brothers. The book also includes lots of photographs, which I loved, and they really brought the story to life visually.
March 2, 2022
This is an engaging and accessible book about the Wright brothers and their contributions to flight. As I have read a book written for adults about them, it did not hold my interest, but that is my problem, not the book's. Children interested in biography or invention will enjoy this.
September 7, 2017
A good way to get kids uninterested in an interesting subject. Yoicks.
August 25, 2019
one of the best books i have ever read.
December 17, 2019
Good broad stroke history of the Wright's development of the airplane.
January 13, 2020
I liked it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews