Gr 4-7-This biography covers the lives and careers of these men from their births in 1867 and 1871 to their deaths in 1912 and 1948. The author also describes their diligence in promoting their invention and aviation when few people supported them. The Wrights' struggles with patents, other inventors, competing companies, and the Smithsonian Institution are included. Black-and-white photographs, reproductions, or maps appear every few pages. While Old's biography focuses on events in the aviators' lives after the first flights, Russell Freedman's The Wright Brothers (Holiday, 1991), illustrated with inviting large photographs, pays greater attention to the early years and the development of the first airplane. Both titles will provide good reading for the centennial of flight in 2003.
