Soar to the Stratosphere Format: Hardback

The incredible illustrated true story of the first balloon flight to the stratosphere, for children ages 4–8.

Soar to the Stratosphere: Auguste Piccard’s Incredible Balloon Flight to Dizzying Heights presents an endearing, exciting, and true story of innovation and exploration that will delight budding scientists and fans of adventure. In this bouncy, adventure-packed, rhyming picture book, the experts at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum tell the story of Auguste Piccard, the first human to fly to the stratosphere. Years before travel in space, Piccard engineered a gondola attached to a giant balloon in his quest to measure cosmic rays from outer space.

Vibrant and informative text, illustrations, photographs, and nonfiction back matter from the NASM collection, plus craft-time instructions that guide readers to create their own balloon models make this nonfiction picture book perfect for at-home and classroom read-alouds.

Written by Air and Space Museum curator Thomas Paone and illustrated by educator and children’s book artist Diane Kidd, this fun and informative book hits the trifecta of Biography + STEAM + Fun.

Thomas Paone curates the lighter-than-air collection of the National Air and Space Museum, including balloons, blimps, and airships. The collection consists of over five hundred items, from small pieces of fabric from historical balloons, blimps, and airships to the Explorer II gondola, which produced the first-ever image showing the curvature of the Earth.

Diane Kidd has a degree in art from the Pratt Institute and a master’s degree in early childhood education from Bank Street College. She has worked with a number of publishers, and her books include Pluto’s Secret, Weird Stories from the Lonesome Café, and more.