The Wrong Wrights [Paperback]

The first graphic novel of theSecret Smithsonian Adventuresseries. Our heroes intervene to save the National Air and Space Museum from Wright brothers interlopers!

Schoolmates Dominique, Eric, Josephine, and Ajay are excited about a field trip to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. When they get there, however, they find a very different museum than the one they were expecting. Not only is it much smaller, it's filled with balloons, blimps, and dirigibles, many of them with the same logo: BARRIS AIRSHIPS. Where's theSpirit of St. Louis? Where's theApollo 11command module? Where's the Wright Brothers' 1903 flyer? With the help of a museum fabrications specialist, they travel through time to try and restore the Wright brothers to their well-earned place in history. Along the way they also learn about aerodynamics and other aviation principles from a wise-cracking A.I. named Smitty. But the kids' story doesn't end there--something is amiss in the next stop on their Smithsonian tour, the National Museum of Natural History--so they'll have to work together to save history again in volume two.BOOKLIST

Four middle-schoolers on a field trip to the National Air and Space Museum stumble onto a shocking surprise: the museum has no airplanes. At least, not any more. History has been changed and these four kids must travel back in time to witness a pivotal moment in the history of air-travel and make sure it goes the way it’s supposed to. As this is the first of the Smithsonian Institution's new graphic novel series, it should come as no surprise that hefty helpings of historical fact are integrated into the story in the form of characters and events, along with a final page of deeper historical detail. Happily, the information is relevant and interesting (do you know, for instance, the names of the Wright Brothers’ two major rivals
and the sorts of air ship prototypes they developed?) andlƒ˝