Planes and how they Work by Clint Twist

Easily one of the best children's books I've ever read. Each interactive, pull-out, colorful page, is loaded with so much aeronautical information, from the cockpit on down through the fuselage and all the way back to the tail fin, that I learned as much about airplanes while reading it to my kids as they did! Fun fun fun! And the pages are nice and thick as well, not chintzy and easily tear-apart-able in the destructive hands of a four year old, like so many interactive children's books, which get wrecked the very day you purchase them oftentimes, once your ravenously reading, though rough handed, curious kids have their playful way with them.

Kids will learn the answers to fascinating questions such as ... how on earth can a huge piece of machinery weighing over 800,000 pounds -- nearly half-a-million tons! -- lift off the ground and ever get airborne? And what does a jet engine block look like from inside the block? Way cool stuff!

The book also features a page on the Past and Future of aeronautics, including interesting tidbits on the Airbus A380, which is over 230 feet long, has three levels and can fly 5,000 miles nonstop without refueling -- which is like flying from San Francisco to Tokyo without having a stopover in Honolulu! Holy cow! It's like a Carnival Cruise ship that flys!

Planes and how they work is supposed to be for kids, but I think adults (well, maybe only dorky adults) will enjoy it as much, if not more so, than their children. Listen, it sure beats the heck out of reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Dick And Jane over and over anyday, trust me. Reading this book is like watching Finding Nemo or Monster House, you can read it multiple times and yet it remains fresh and fun for both children and adults. I wish all children's books were this interesting.