Our Neighbor is a Strange, Strange Man http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Our-Neighbor-a-Strange-Strange-Man-Tres-Seymour-Walter-Lynn-Krudop/9780531301074

By Tres Seymour, Walter Lynn Krudop, Walter Lynn Krudop (Illustrated by)

Reviews

Gr 1-3-The strange neighbor in this brief tale is Melville Murrell, who received a patent in 1877 for the first American "airplane"-a "weird contraption made of wood and pulleys, bolts and strings...." This picture book rescues this little-known eccentric inventor from obscurity. The short, conversational narrative by the boy who lives next door is enhanced by Krudop's bright, full-page paintings. They give life and humor to this brief moment in history when a man flew several yards in a winged platform propelled by other men pulling on ropes. Final notes show the plan of Murrell's construction and tell of its present location in the Smithsonian. The story, a slight bit of Americana, may be useful in a unit on transportation, flight, or history. However, it lacks the depth and richness of the Provensens' story of the French inventor Louis Bleriot in The Glorious Flight (Viking, 1983).-Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ