The author describes her experiences with hot air ballooning as passenger and ground-crew member and depicts the sport from flight preparation to dismantling.

Hot air balloons are huge and colorful. They're lots of fun to watch. But how do they fly? And how do people control where the hot air balloon goes? Read this book to find out!

A charming animal adventure story that shows how an act of kindness can be returned when in need. Filled with beautiful illustrations and details that children can search for. One day, Raccoon helps an eagle chick back into their nest and it makes Raccoon wish she could fly. She goes to sleep and flies in her dreams. Suddenly, she is woken by a noise – it is an amazing hot air balloon. It lands and she sees an opportunity for adventure. She climbs in and nibbles away the ropes. Soon she is flying! What an adventure but Raccoon soon realizes that she is not actually sure how she can get down... Luckily, the mother eagle sees her and enlists the help of other birds to drop stones in the basket until the hot air balloon gently drifts down. Raccoon thinks she is finished with adventure – until she sees a speed boat! This simple but stunning book is perfect for storytime. There are so many details that can be pointed out and discussed. A real treasure of a book.

Go on a magical adventure in this fun and playful story by Margaret Wise Brown, best-selling author of the children's classics Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Travel on a magical adventure with a little dog in The Noon Balloon, from best-selling children's book author Margaret Wise Brown. Beautifully illustrated, this lyrical text will be a soothing bedtime favorite.

More than a century before the Wright Brothers invented their plane, brothers Joseph and ƒtienne Montgolfier sent a flying machine into the skies--a hot-air balloon with three animals in the basket. This picture book chronicles that first, magical journey! Full color.

**Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)** **Time Magazine 10 Top Nonfiction Books of 2013** **The New Republic Best Books of 2013** In this heart-lifting chronicle, Richard Holmes, author of the best-selling The Age of Wonder, follows the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, the daring and enigmatic men and women who risked their lives to take to the air (or fall into the sky). Why they did it, what their contemporaries thought of them, and how their flights revealed the secrets of our planet is a compelling adventure that only Holmes could tell. His accounts of the early Anglo-French balloon rivalries, the crazy firework flights of the beautiful Sophie Blanchard, the long-distance voyages of the American entrepreneur John Wise and French photographer Felix Nadar are dramatic and exhilarating. Holmes documents as well the balloons used to observe the horrors of modern battle during the Civil War (including a flight taken by George Armstrong Custer); the legendary tale of at least sixty-seven manned balloons that escaped from Paris (the first successful civilian airlift in history) during the Prussian siege of 1870-71; the high-altitude exploits of James Glaisher (who rose) seven miles above the earth without oxygen, helping to establish the new science of meteorology); and how Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jules Verne felt the imaginative impact of flight and allowed it to soar in their work. A seamless fusion of history, art, science, biography, and the metaphysics of flights, Falling Upwards explores the interplay between technology and imagination. And through the strange allure of these great balloonists, it offers a masterly portrait of human endeavor, recklessness, and vision. (With 24 pages of color illustrations, and black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

In this story based on true events, a thirteen-year-old apprentice takes the first manned hot air balloon flight in America and gains new insight into life's possibilities.

Have you ever seen big balloons taking people for a ride? Look at these hot air balloons flying up in the sky. They look like all kinds of different things. Reading Level 6/F&P Level D

Find out how these beautiful balloons float through the air and discover what makes them fly.

This Balloon Flying Handbook introduces the basic pilot knowledge and skills that are essential for piloting balloons. It introduces pilots to the broad spectrum of knowledge that will be needed as they progress in their pilot training. This handbook is for student pilots, as well as those pursuing more advanced pilot certificates. Student pilots learning to fly balloons, certificated pilots preparing for additional balloon ratings or who desire to improve their flying proficiency and aeronautical knowledge, and commercial balloon pilots teaching balloon students how to fly should find this handbook helpful. This book introduces the prospective pilot to the realm of balloon flight and provides information and guidance to all balloon pilots in the performance of various balloon maneuvers and procedures. This handbook conforms to pilot training and certification concepts established by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).