Wood, Wire, Wings

This non-fiction book about Emma Lilian Todd by Kirsten Williams Larson and illustrated by Tracy Subisak offers an inspiring story about a woman engineer inventing an airplane. The story and illustrations do a fantastic job of showing the real-world process of design thinking, with research and failures along the way. I love the themes of perseverance and the important message that great inventions build upon one another.

The early days of flight didn’t end with the Wright Brothers. This is the fascinating story of the first woman to design a working flying machine. Some kids think that if an invention doesn’t work, then it and they are failures. That couldn’t be farther from the truth as this book shows. Reading Emma’s story of inventing an airplane, even though she had no formal engineering training, may be just the inspiration and encouragement children need to try inventing.

How amazing to discover that the airplane designed by the Wright brothers was improved upon by a young woman who loved to tinker and invent in a time when females were supposed to sip tea and embroider doilies. It’s so important for young children to have strong role models – people who create things that make the world a better place. Kids also need to see that repeated failures are no reason to stop. Emma Lilian Todd persevered through many challenges and experienced many failures before she fashioned an airplane that really flew. Wood, Wire, Wings is sure to inspire… show more.