The Hindenburg [Hardcover]

Patrick O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

A dramatic, vividly illustrated look at the tragic ship whose fiery crash ended the age of the dirigible.

Like a fabulous silvery fish, floating quietly in the ocean of air ... it seemed to be coming from another world and to be returning there like a dream.

On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg, the largest and fastest airship ever built, exploded in a tremendous ball of fire as it came to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. It was one of the most spectacular disasters of the twentieth century, and in a single moment ended the era of the majestic dirigible airships.

For thirty-seven years before the Hindenburg tragedy, the gigantic airships of the Zeppelin Company captivated the world as they carried thousands of passengers on luxurious transatlantic voyages. Some dreamed that the steerable, gas-filled "zeppelins," invented three years before the airplane, would fill the skies as the unrivaled way to travel over the ocean. That dream ended with the Hindenburg.

Readers of all ages will enjoy this fascinating look at the Hindenburg and the magical age of the Zeppelin airships.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

O'Brien (Gigantic: How Big Were the Dinosaurs?) captures readers' attention by opening his crisp history of this ill-fated airship with its explosion on May 6, 1937, over a New Jersey airfield. The narrative then shifts to 1900, when Hugo Eckener, the German who would go on to design the Hindenburg, falls "under the spell" of his countryman Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who has just invented the first dirigible. After documenting the use of these airships as bombers in WWI, the author succinctly recounts the evolution of this technology, the creation of the Graf Zeppelin (a luxury craft that Eckener piloted around the world in 1929) and the engineering and construction of the Hindenburg. O'Brien's lifelike watercolor and gouache paintings pack as much drama as the story he tells: he presents such memorable images as the immense airship serenely approaching Rio de Janeiro at sunset and a chilling view of the HindenburgAon its last journeyAcruising over icebergs, close to the very spot where the Titanic sank 25 years earlier. Then, in his buildup to the climax, O'Brien ends one spread with, "There was no warning of what was about to happen," and readers turn the page for a spectacular wordless full-bleed spread of the fiery explosion. The author wraps up this absorbing account with some fascinating facts (e.g., the tower on the top of the Empire State Building was built as a dirigible mooring mast, which was never used). Ages 7-10.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. Although the Hindenburg disaster is fully and forcefully depicted in both the text and the watercolor-and-gouache artwork, O'Brien's picture book for older readers focuses more on the dream the Hindenburg represented than on the tragedy. The endpapers, which show the silver whale floating above a German castle and New York City skyscrapers, encapsulate the visionary quality. O'Brien's strong narrative begins by foreshadowing the disaster, then goes on to trace the development of the aircraft, the largest passenger carrier of the time, before considering the tragic event itself. Much of his text is about Hindenburg developer Hugo Eckener, who dreamed of transatlantic flight long before the airplane was invented and engineered dirigibles for the Zeppelin Company. The detailed drawings showing how the Hindenburg was built will remind readers of David Macaulay's castle and cathedral construction plans. In both pictures and text, this beautiful, fact-filled book truly makes history come alive. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080506415X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805064155
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Children's Books > Transportation > Aviation

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hindenberg, September 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hindenburg (Hardcover)

This book has great pictures to keep the interest of young readers. My son did not know this story was true and he really wanted me to help him read this book NOW so he could find out what happened to all the people. The size of the airship amazed him and he learned a lot!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Fahrscheine, bitte.", November 17, 2003

By 

cousinpaco (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hindenburg (Hardcover)

The tragic, fiery crash of the Hindenburg remains a mystery. Was it sabotage? Lightning? A Skyline moment?

Either way, modern children need to learn respect for the powerful, gas-filled dirigible. Lulled into a false sense of security by the focus-group-friendly corporate blimps of today, this gorgeous book recounting the Hindenburg disaster will make children realize they've taken hydrogen for granted.

Informative, historical narrative aside, this book's evocative watercolor-and-gouache illustrations perfectly capture the detail of that terrible day. The book doesn't shy away from the less-pleasant aspects of that age, using bright colors to highlight the hated Nazi flag emblazoned on the fins of the doomed airship.

Of course, no retelling of the Hindenburg is complete without "the good part," and this book refuses to pull any punches, depicting the horrible spectacle with an explosion of color and dramatic perspectives.

Pefect for all ages!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kirkus reviews says..., February 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hindenburg (Hardcover)

Kirkus Reviews said of this book: "Compellingly well told, beautifully illustrated, and skillfully designed, this is a work that will find a wide audience."