Review Detail

Means of Transport That Almost Changed the World

Middle Grade Non-Fiction 499

Want to know why we don't have jet packs yet?

July 07, 2023

Overall rating

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Learning Value

4.0

It seems like there is nothing new under the sun, especially if you have just had an Invention Convention project assigned to you, but this book shows definitely that there is no end to the number of weird and wonderful ways people have thought to improve the way that humans travel from place to place! Everything from an early Parisian moving walkway in 1900 (which we do see remnants of today!) to the 2005 Peugeot Moovie on the cover is examined and illustrated with lovely illustrations with a bit of a vintage vibe.

For people wondering where our jet packs are, there is a discussion of why the 1955 flying platform and rocket belt weren't the best idea, and for fans of Batman, the GM Firebird, with its iconic plexiglass bubbles is showcased. Personally, I want a Convaircar that looks like a regular sedan with an airplane attached to the top, or of course, a pyramid shaped, namesake Citroen Karin!

Good Points

There's just enough information about each vehicle's plusses and minuses that readers will be motivated to find out more about their favorites and maybe even design some vehicles of their own!

Young readers interested in the history of transportantion will want to take this book out for a spin along with Oxlade's 2014 Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: A Visual History of Modern Transportation Featuring 100 Iconic Designs, From Here to There : Inventions That Changed the Way the World Moves by Kirkfield (2021), Barr's The Story of Inventions (2020) or Macy's fantastic 2017 Motor Girls: How Women Took the Wheel and Drove Boldly Into the Twentieth Century.