One Fine Day: A Radio Play

by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk

On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers changed the world when they first flew their homemade powered airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In One Fine Day author Elizabeth Van Steenwyk celebrates that first flight in the form of an old-time radio play, beautifully illustrated by Bill Farnsworth. The brotherly banter of the dialogue captures the character of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the excitement of their accomplishment, while offering young readers an opportunity to reenact the drama of that important day.

Genres: Childrens, Biography

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Elizabeth Van Steenwyk is the award-winning author of more than seventy published books for young people. After graduating from Knox College, she went on to spend ten years writing for radio and television with a concentration on children's programming. She lives in California.

Reviews

[Cassia Catterall]

Brief Review: This was a radio play that talked about the story of the Wright brothers. I did not really like how it was written because it described each specifiic thing that the brothers did, like speaking louder or softer, but it was a unique read. I did like that at the beginning of the book it showed different ways of making sounds that could be transformed over the radio, such as crinkiling paper to make a fire sound. That part of the book was neat because it showed when the speaker had to make sounds to go with the story.

Content Area: This story could be used in physics because the Wright brothers used a lot of science in order to get their "Flyer" off the ground. They had to figure out air pressure and the amount of force needed to get a plain flying. This was obviously very difficult because noone had ever done that before. History classes could also use this book because the Wright brothers are an icon in America. You could ask students what they knew about the Wright brothers and then have them read this book and see if what they knew matched up or if they learned anything different.

Comprehensive Questions:
Why was there hardly any audience at the flyers take off and how would this impact the brothers?
The Wright brothers had many failed attempts in trying to obtain take off so eventually people stopped watching them. This could be very hard on them because it shows lack of faith in their abilities.
How do you think the brothers would feel about our planes today?
They would probably think that they are a lot bigger and more comfortable today. They also might be scared to get on these planes over water just because they were nowhere close to being that advanced. Finally, it would be interesting to them to see the different controls necessary now and the idea that they don't need people to hold the plane down to keep it controlled when going on a runway.

Wonders:
How did their family feel about them spending their life figuring out an invention?
How expensive was it for them to obtain parts for their flyers?

[Katie White]

This is such a great book! It's about the Wright brothers and their airplanes, but it's written in the form of a play. This would be a great way to throw something different into the lessons and create some sort of readers theater or performance for the students to take on. Obviously there would need to be more parts added to the book, but you could use this book with children as young as Kindergarten since it's in such a creative medium, but could be used in any age group really. It even gives suggestions to create certain sound effects.

[McKinzie Elton · Rating 4 out of 5]

After studying about the Wright Brothers and the first flight, we will read this book together. I will play the sound effects and the students will have parts that they are reading from the book. The students will practice their intonation and fluency.