Wee and the Wright Brothers [Hardcover]

Timothy R. Gaffney (Author), Bernadette Pons (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

Wilbur and Orville began packing the Flyer into a wooden crate. Wee's little heart skipped a beat. "They're getting ready to go to Kitty Hawk," he told his family. "If only I could go and watch them fly. What a story it would make."

Join one indomitable mouse as he
takes off on the ride of his life

Wee is a journalist who will stop at nothing to get his story. Wee is also . . . a mouse. And what better time and place for a mouse than a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, during the year 1903? Wee could think of no place he'd rather be. Except-just maybe-in the air!

Will Wee get his sky excursion, his big story for the Mouse News? With the Wright brothers around, Wee's sure to be going places. In this charming picture book, fact and (a little) fiction work together to tell a thrilling story about one courageous mouse.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3–The Wright brothers need little introduction, but Wee, the head of a mouse household, may need a little elucidation. He lives with his wife and children in the Wright brothers' bicycle shop in Dayton, OH, in 1903. He publishes a newspaper for the neighborhood mice, not unlike Orville and Wilbur, who for a time did the same–for people. He is impressed with the brothers' bicycles but is most excited about their flying machines.When they transport the Flyer to Kitty Hawk, he hides inside the crate, watches the men assemble their contraption, and manages to stow away in Orville's coat pocket during the first flight. With Wee as an engaging tag-a-long, children will begin to understand the Wrights' extraordinary feat. Quotes from the Mouse News are sprinkled throughout the narrative, and Wee even reports about the brothers' fastidious haberdashery. Winsome watercolors are an engaging complement to the text, and the mouse's face is filled with personality and expression. An author's note provides more information. This tale makes a good introduction to the inventors for wee ones.–Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. Wee, a mouse who writes and publishes the Mouse News, lives with his wife and children in the bicycle shop where Wilbur and Orville Wright are working on their dream: the Flyer. When the brothers pack up for Kitty Hawk, Wee stows away in a crate. He swipes cornbread from Orville's mousetraps, observes the building of the Flyer, hitches a ride on its first flight, and writes up his adventures for the Mouse News. Two notes are appended to the story: a good, brief introduction to the Wright brothers and their flying machine and another to an actual Kitty Hawk mouse who proved a master at eluding traps and, Orville recorded later, "defeated every stratagem our ingenuity could devise." Just right for introducing the Wright brothers' 1903 flight to young children, this has a cheerful tone, an intrepid hero, and the ability to convey information without making it ponderous. The watercolor-and-pastel artwork illustrates the story with vitality and distinction, doing justice to both its subject and its audience. Carolyn Phelan
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 (August 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805071725
• ISBN-13: 978-0805071726
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,701,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wee Could Be Heroes, Just For One Day, November 30, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wee and the Wright Brothers (Hardcover)

The somewhat bland cover hides a beautifully illustrated book about "Wee" --a young mouse who lives with his family in the Wright Brothers' Dayton, Ohio bicycle shop. French illustrator Bernadette Pons' composition, and use of detail, light, and soft, shaded color gives an early Disney-look to her mostly lively pictures. (The beige sand of Kitty Hawk and the Brothers' somewhat plain inventor-wear contrast with the more vivid and 3-dimensional look of the mouse's habitat.)

Writer Timothy Gaffney is an aviation journalist and pilot, as well as a friend of the Wright family. His enthusiasm for his subject shows in the accurate and interesting narrative, which highlights the testing (progressing from kites to gliders to their first plane, "Flyer"), and his detailed description of the Flyer's first day aloft. Wee is a journalist himself, writing stories for his family's "Mouse News." At first, I thought this was an unnecessary subplot, but it provides a Wee a motive for following the Wright brothers to the testing grounds of Kitty Hawk. Wee eventually sneaks on board the Flyer, and he and the reader share the adventure and excitement of the Wright Brothers' feat.

Gaffney includes a brief biography about the brothers (which includes some scientific details about the plane), and two paragraphs about a mouse discovered by the Wrights at their Kitty Hawk encampment. As described in the story, Orville tried setting traps for the "wee" mouse, only to find that it had repeatedly the cornbread bait. (Many years later, the inventor wrote about the inventive mouse.) This is a cleverly written and illustrated book that adds interest and personality to the Wright Brothers' most famous accomplishment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book for Young Readers, October 20, 2004

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wee and the Wright Brothers (Hardcover)

The year is 1903, and Wee is a journalist mouse who writes and publishes the Mouse News alongside his beloved wife and children in a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. The very same bicycle shop that is owned and run by Wilbur and Orville Wright. At the time being, the two brothers are working on a machine called the Flyer, which they hope will be able to transport people through air in the future. When they head towards Kitty Hawk, Wee knows that he must tag-along in order to break the news to his avid readers. And who knows, perhaps Wee will even get the chance to take flight himself.

In this wonderful new children's book, author Timothy R. Gaffney introduces first-time readers to the Wright Brothers', as well as a cute, yet quirky character named Wee. Gaffney's descriptions of building the Flyer, and testing it out are vivid and descriptive, while Bernadette Pons' illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, and coincide magnificently with the story. Overall this is a must-have book for any children interested in flying, as it gives a brief history lesson, and will take them on a fun reading adventure.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and educational, March 3, 2008

By 

Susan Flood "floodclan" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wee and the Wright Brothers (Hardcover)

We always buy books as souvenirs from our vacations, and this is one of our favorites. Kids can relate to the little mouse hiding in Orville Wright's pocket on the first flight. They love how he figures out how to steal the cheese without getting caught in the brothers' traps. But it also gives kids a real feeling of how exciting it must have been to be there for the first flight! Plus it's a good introduction of what a reporter does to cover a good story. A very sweet book!