View source for Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle by John Abbott Nez

{{infobox2 
|title= Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle
|author= John Abbott Nez 
|reviewer= John Lloyd
|genre=For Sharing 
|summary= A charmingly illustrated tale of a real life pioneer in American flight.
|rating=4 
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=32 
|publisher= Putnam
|date= May 2009
|isbn=978-0399250415  
|aznuk=0399250417
|aznus=0399250417
|cover=0399250417
|sort=Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle
}}

Meet Cromwell Dixon.  He's a real tinkerer, forever in a barn or somewhere building something manically unusual.  Luckily - although his long-suffering mother may disagree with that word - he's around at the birth of powered flight.  Will his plans for a pedalled air machine work?
 
Well as this is a true story, the answer is slightly obvious.  He really seems to have been a young genius - a rollercoaster and a motorbike under his belt way before he was of what is now school-leaving age.  But as he appears here - a slightly young fourteen year old - he is an airman of Edwardian style, great willpower, and more than a little pluck.
 
This volume is finely balanced between the picture book and the young reader.  There are several multi-syllable words, but nothing too strenuous.  The greatest effort seems to have been spent on the illustrations, which are superb - lovely, rich detail, with every large spread peppered with animals (Cromwell's pet dog, perhaps unwisely braving his master's experiments, the haughty cockerel at the landing site), charming people and a bright warmth. 
 
It's a simple story told very nicely, with no real attempt to force the moral - fortune favours the brave, to some extent - down anyone's throats.  It won't be particularly inspirational as a result, but will open young reader's eyes to antique airmachines and the pioneering spirit.  Luckily it stops before the real Cromwell died in a air crash when he was only nineteen.
 
That's certainly what we don't want in picture books of this sort.  What we do want is what we get - great artistry in the pictures, a simple linear tale, and for once, a forgotten hero resurrected for a brief while as a great hero for our young friends and families.
 
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
 
If your child has learnt to love planes, they will get a lot from [[Take a Flight by Peter Kent]].  But adults, don't despair - there is a flying pioneer in picture form for you, too - it's [[Trial and Error: The Aviated Efforts of Jean Babtiste de Bomberaque by Oivind Hovland]].

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[[Category:Confident Readers]]
[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction]]