School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-"Kick the tires and light the fires." If you're a fighter pilot on an aircraft carrier, that means do the preflight check and take off quickly. Readers get a personal tour of the ship by a young visitor. Military jargon appears in boldface in the text and is defined in a separate pictorial area on each spread. Colored-pencil illustrations show many essential components of the carrier and the planes that take off and land on its deck. Nugget visits the basement, or main hangar deck, and learns about how pilots contend with the force of gravity. The complicated mechanics of taking off and landing on a 300-foot runway are explained and detailed through the illustrations. The jobs of many crew members also are examined. Although this book will have special appeal to the children of military families, anyone interested in planes will appreciate the high level of information provided in an attractive, accessible format.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
A young boy, Nugget, is excited when he gets to take a flight in a fighter plane off of an aircraft carrier. Along the way, he learns how planes take off and land on the carrier and how they are maintained, fueled, and housed. His plane even participates in a practice dogfight. Nugget's experiences are related through a series of double-page spreads drawn in colored pencil. Each picture features bright colors and dramatic angles sure to attract the attention of young viewers. On the bottom or sides of each spread are definitions of technical terms, and smaller drawings. This method allows a surprising amount of technical information about the workings of aircraft carriers to be conveyed within the picture-book format. Back pages include carrier facts, Web sites and further readings, and an aviator's alphabet of terms. A great introduction to fighter jets and aircraft carriers for young readers.--Morning, Todd Copyright 2009 Booklist