The Hindenburg - Hardcover

O'Brien, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080506415X ISBN 13: 9780805064155

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2000

Synopsis

A dramatic, vividly illustrated look at the tragic ship whose fiery crash ended the age of the dirigible.

Like a fabulous silvery fish, floating quietly in the ocean of air ... it seemed to be coming from another world and to be returning there like a dream.

On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg, the largest and fastest airship ever built, exploded in a tremendous ball of fire as it came to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. It was one of the most spectacular disasters of the twentieth century, and in a single moment ended the era of the majestic dirigible airships.

For thirty-seven years before the Hindenburg tragedy, the gigantic airships of the Zeppelin Company captivated the world as they carried thousands of passengers on luxurious transatlantic voyages. Some dreamed that the steerable, gas-filled "zeppelins," invented three years before the airplane, would fill the skies as the unrivaled way to travel over the ocean. That dream ended with the Hindenburg.

Readers of all ages will enjoy this fascinating look at the Hindenburg and the magical age of the Zeppelin airships.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick O'Brien has illustrated several picture books, including Gigantic! (which he also wrote). He lives with his wife in Baltimore, Maryland.

Reviews

O'Brien (Gigantic: How Big Were the Dinosaurs?) captures readers' attention by opening his crisp history of this ill-fated airship with its explosion on May 6, 1937, over a New Jersey airfield. The narrative then shifts to 1900, when Hugo Eckener, the German who would go on to design the Hindenburg, falls "under the spell" of his countryman Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who has just invented the first dirigible. After documenting the use of these airships as bombers in WWI, the author succinctly recounts the evolution of this technology, the creation of the Graf Zeppelin (a luxury craft that Eckener piloted around the world in 1929) and the engineering and construction of the Hindenburg. O'Brien's lifelike watercolor and gouache paintings pack as much drama as the story he tells: he presents such memorable images as the immense airship serenely approaching Rio de Janeiro at sunset and a chilling view of the HindenburgAon its last journeyAcruising over icebergs, close to the very spot where the Titanic sank 25 years earlier. Then, in his buildup to the climax, O'Brien ends one spread with, "There was no warning of what was about to happen," and readers turn the page for a spectacular wordless full-bleed spread of the fiery explosion. The author wraps up this absorbing account with some fascinating facts (e.g., the tower on the top of the Empire State Building was built as a dirigible mooring mast, which was never used). Ages 7-10.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 3-6. Although the Hindenburg disaster is fully and forcefully depicted in both the text and the watercolor-and-gouache artwork, O'Brien's picture book for older readers focuses more on the dream the Hindenburg represented than on the tragedy. The endpapers, which show the silver whale floating above a German castle and New York City skyscrapers, encapsulate the visionary quality. O'Brien's strong narrative begins by foreshadowing the disaster, then goes on to trace the development of the aircraft, the largest passenger carrier of the time, before considering the tragic event itself. Much of his text is about Hindenburg developer Hugo Eckener, who dreamed of transatlantic flight long before the airplane was invented and engineered dirigibles for the Zeppelin Company. The detailed drawings showing how the Hindenburg was built will remind readers of David Macaulay's castle and cathedral construction plans. In both pictures and text, this beautiful, fact-filled book truly makes history come alive. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080506415X
• ISBN 13: 9780805064155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40