Aviation is only about a century old, which means the whole thing — balloons, airships, canvas biplanes, mail planes, fighters, jumbo jets — happened inside four or five generations. That is short enough that a child can hold the entire story in their head at once, and strange enough that the story is mostly people bolting an engine to something and finding out. The good books keep both halves: the machine, drawn accurately enough to argue about, and the moment somebody decided to climb into it anyway.
Bookroo's collection of 322 aviation books covers the aircraft, the airfields, and the century of experiments that got us from a wicker basket under a balloon to a plane that carries four hundred people. Our editors picked fifteen favorites below — start there, then browse board books for the toddler who names every aircraft overhead, picture books for the years of constant questions, and chapter books for readers who want the engineering, the history, and the flights that went wrong.
A first tour of everything that flies — the Wright brothers' wooden glider, helicopters, jets, and the machines in between.
An animal flight crew loads up, taxis out, and takes off, in rhyme, with every part of the plane named on the way.
Peek through the die-cut holes and the helicopter, the plane, and the balloon turn out to be somewhere else entirely.
One family, one ordinary flight, and every single thing that happens between the front door and the baggage claim.
Papa Blériot builds flying machine after flying machine, crashes most of them, and then crosses the English Channel.
In 1906 a Brazilian inventor flew a machine that took off under its own power in front of a Paris crowd that had come to see him fail.
A self-taught engineer sketches, revises, and rebuilds until her airplane design finally leaves the ground.
Sophie Blanchard rises over Paris in a hydrogen balloon in an age when everyone below is certain she will not come back.
During the Berlin airlift one pilot began dropping candy on handkerchief parachutes, and one girl on the ground kept missing them.
For a few years the fastest way to cross the Atlantic was a silver airship the length of three football fields.
Two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, teach themselves aeronautics and solve the problem of controlled flight.
A girl listening to an ultralight pilot on a radio hears the crash, and then has to get across the Arizona desert to reach her.
Grandpa thinks it is still 1940, he is still flying Spitfires, and his grandson is the only one willing to go along with it.
Planes, helicopters, and balloons on pages built to survive a car seat. Ages 0–3.
Discover vibrant pop-up vehicles that leap off the page.
A plane's adventures end with a comforting return home.
A child's button-pressing adventure leads to an unexpected airplane takeoff.
Discover the fascinating world of airplanes and their diverse uses.
Discover a world where animals and vehicles collide in pun-filled adventures.
Join Captain Bright for an interactive airplane adventure.
Discover the wonders of flight, from birds to rockets, in a baby's world.
Explore the plane through touch and discovery.
Join a pilot's thrilling flight and unexpected landing.
Discover the thrilling sounds of eight aircraft in this engaging board book.
Discover indestructible books that introduce babies to vehicles that fly, drive, and sail.
A teacher is stranded atop a Ferris wheel. Can Yellow Copter save the day?
A day inside the airport, the first flying machines, and how a wing holds anything up. Ages 3–8.
A family risks all to escape East Germany in a homemade balloon.
Experience the excitement of a first flight with a curious mouse.
A young inventor's flying machine could change everything at the Air Show and beyond.
Can Mr. Fox's balloon fit all his friends on a moon adventure?
Can one woman's engineering genius turn the tide of World War II?
A WWII pilot returns to the U.S. decades later seeking forgiveness.
A bear's kindness sparks unexpected rewards.
A fearless woman defies odds to become a pioneering WWII pilot.
A young woman defies the odds to become a pioneering aviator.
A homeless boy finds hope in an airport when a trapped bird gains freedom.
Defy the odds and soar to new heights with a pioneering pilot.
A heroic elephant patrols the skies, ready to save the savannah.
Airships, air races, wartime squadrons, rescue flights, and the engineering behind all of it. Ages 7–12.
A boy survives a plane crash and must endure the wilderness with only a hatchet.
A professor's flight goes awry, leading to a mysterious island of wealth and inventions.
Young Arthur Conan Doyle faces danger and mystery at a secret school for gifted children.
In a sky-bound world, slum kids risk all to reach a city that holds the cure for a deadly mist.
A pilot drops candy to lift spirits in blockaded Berlin.
A pilot's final flight opens a path to faith in the Ecuadorian jungle.
Chaos at an airport intertwines the lives of twelve young Asian Americans, revealing identity and belonging.
Young Americans defy neutrality, joining WWI's skies as daring pilots.
Fearless women pilots race across America in a daring 1929 air derby.
A mysterious foe recreates history's worst disasters. Can the Cahills stop him in time?
A mysterious region in the Atlantic Ocean where many ships and planes have disappeared under unexplained circumstances.
Two brothers defy gravity, inventing the first successful airplane.
