Airport: A Bold, Colorful Picture Book About Flying and Airplanes for Kids

by Byron Barton

Byron Barton introduces young readers to the fun of the airport in this bold and colorful book. From the excitement of arrival to the wonder of taking off, Airport captures all the magic of an airport with joyous and powerful images and simple text. Perfect for fans of Richard Scarry and Tom Lichtenheld! Supports the Common Core State Standards.

Genres: Picture Books, Transport, Childrens, Nonfiction, Aeroplanes, Storytime, Aviation

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Byron Barton is the author and illustrator of many picture books for young children. He has been honored by ALA, SLJ, and Reading Rainbow. He worked as an animator for CBS before he started creating children's books. He is currently making his illustrations completely on the computer.

Reviews

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice airport and airplane. Show inside.

[Miloš]

Reading with my kids 😁

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic description of aviation. Obviously pre-9/11, with no mention of waiting in the security line for hours or Backscatter X-rays.

[Sierra McKinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to learn more about what goes on inside an airport?! Well this is the book for you. The author takes the reader on an adventure of discovering the excitement that an airport holds.
This book gives the reader information on the way the airport works and the steps that need to be taken in order to travel in a plane. I would say that it's a helpful book when wanting to give a young child a brief overview of the exciting airport life.
Age Appropriateness: pre k-kindergarten

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed with fun facts about travel, airports, and the planes you ride on!
*Fun Fact: Did you know planes store their fuel in the wings?!?!
Such a great book to give to first-time little travelers. It is always good to know what to expect. This book is from '82, so it came out way before all the fancy security we have to go through now was put in place, but that's just about the only thing that was missing.

[Kiran · Rating 2 out of 5]

An ultra simple outline of traveling via air.

My 2 year old loves Barton's books, something about the colorful illustrations, short narrative and the subject matter. I personally am not a fan of the spacing of the text in this book but the kid sure does love this book.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for the child of a pilot of a flight attendant. It is basic and forthright. It might be good for a kid who is going to fly for the first time too, so that they have expectations and understand what is going on.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Byron Barton: clear, simple text describing an activity more than telling a story, and bright, vivid illustrations with lots of diversity. Too simple for preschoolers (unless you turn it into a didactic experience and ask lots of questions as you read), but great for toddlers.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars--Straightforward, upbeat, and colorful account of what happens at an airport as passengers prepare for their flight. This 1980s-era book will be nostalgic fun for adults for a less-complicated time in air travel.

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid, but a little dated

[Milton Louie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tour of the airport. B

[Heather Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

lily fall reading 2018, children's book, picture book, airplanes, things that go,

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely dated, but the text level is so good for toddlers. I am hopeful that there will be an updated one.

[Jonathan Case · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loves airplanes this was a good quick read at bed time and now an easy book to get him to start working on reading.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to our grandson George, and then George read it to us. Fun times.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a somewhat comprehensive book about planes but it looks very outdated and the way they split the words on each page made unnatural sentence breaks.

[Charleston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the cockpit picture and the control tower picture!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Airport by Byron Barton by is a great book for younger children about the airport, and the people and processes that go into an airplane trip. It starts with people arriving at the airport in buses and cars to fly on a jet plane. They arrive in the waiting room, while the plane is loaded with suitcases and fuel. People then board the plane and find their seats, while the pilots get ready up in the cockpit. The control tower radios the pilots when all is clear. The flight attendant has everyone buckle their seatbelts as the plane slowly rolls toward the runway. Once the control tower tells the pilot, "All clear for takeoff.", the plane roars down the runway fast, then goes up in the air. They are on their way!

The text is simple and concise yet precisely informative. It is a good guide for younger children about to take an airplane trip. It covers the basics of waiting, boarding, safety announcements and takeoff, whie also mentioning the loading of the plane, the pilots, flight attendants and control tower.

Barton's illustrations help convery the information clearly. They also show other details not addressed in the text: bags being brought into the terminal, the check-in line, a X-ray scanner and metal detector, fuel trucks, baggage handling vehicles, an interior shot of the aircraft, and the boarding extension walkway. The bustle of a busy airport is well captured and conveyed.

The illustrations and text should spark discussion of airplanes, airports and the people who work there. Airport is a great selection for a transportation or airplane storytime or read aloud. With its large font, it's also a good choice for a beginning reader.

For ages 3 to 6, transportation, travel, airplane themes, and fans of Byron Barton.

[Aubrey White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure if my description of tonight's reading of Airport will give it justice, but I have to try. We told Josiah to find a book in the house he thought he could read. He came back with Airport. This immediately got me started on a nostalgic digression about how Byron Barton was Josiah's most favorite author at age two, and how we couldn't ever leave the house without a stack of Byron Barton books. Josiah was embarrassed, Jacob was annoyed, and Brendan, for some reason, was really, really happy. He joined Josiah on the kitchen floor and began cheering him on with his customary thigh-slapping. And so the reading began. "In cars . . . " Brendan slapping his thighs. "And in buses . . . " Brendan's tongue is out and he's still slapping away. "People come to the airport." Brendan can barely contain himself. We have no idea why this is so exciting for him. We start to laugh. Josiah continues. The whole scene continues to escalate, with especial cheers from Brendan when Josiah figures out "suit" and B gets the word - "SUITCASES!" By the time Josiah reaches the end, Jacob and I are heaving in fits of giggles, Nat is happily confused, Josiah is triumphant, and Brendan - well, he quite literally erupts with exuberance, snatches the book from Josiah's hands, smacks Nat on the head with it, and runs out of the room. Nat's reaction was a perfect 2-year-old version of "wtf?" and we are all still laughing about the whole thing two hours later.

[Shanna Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Donald Crews' Flying provides a birds-eye view of the distance an airplane covers, Airport captures the human processes that go into an airplane trip. In Barton's concise, well-crafted style, he describes the passengers' arrival at the airport, then their waiting while luggage is loaded and the plane is fueled. He moves on to boarding, flight preparation in the cockpit, clearance from the control tower, safety instruction for the passengers, taxiing, and takeoff.

The illustrations are deceptively simple, paring each scene down to its most essential parts, but retaining enough detail to provide plenty of interest. Throughout the book, Barton captures the rhythm of life in an airport. This is an excellent book for preparing young children for their first airplane ride, or simply helping them understand an important part of modern society.

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Papa went looking for a book that would get me ready for my big trip to Sweden. It came with a cool coloring book with words called My Plane Trip. I read both several times. I read the books before going to the airport, while at the airport and on the plane. I was so happy when we read them. It was pretty easy for me to fly. When we were in the air I kept asking, "Mama, when is the plane going to start to fly?" I didn't realize that we were already flying.

Even though it has been a few months since we returned from Sweden. I like to read the book and remind Mama and Papa about the time I was on the airplane and in an airport like the family in the story. Mama thinks this is a great story to help a little one get ready for their first (or maybe 100th) plane trip.

[Kathryn Brunk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book’s content could be in social studies and is about traveling and going to the airport. I thought this was an okay book and it had few words which is fine because the illustrations were the real descriptions in the book. This book could be used with community helpers units when describing pilots and what they do. I also think this could be fun to read at the beginning of the year after summer vacation or after any holiday that children may have traveled. We could have a class discussion about who has traveled through the airport and what are some other ways students have traveled.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've owned the French version of this book for a very long time and we read it before we go on trips on an airplane, to help prepare our girls for what to expect. We saw the English version of this book at the library and compared it to my English translation, which was very similar. I like to read the French one, though, since it exposes the girls to another language.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story, written in French that describes the trip to the airport and the process of getting checked in through takeoff. I like exposing our girls to a different language, and I also wanted to let them know what to expect prior to a trip on an airplane.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 5 out of 5]

In buses
And in cars
People come to the airport. So it begins.

Barton as you've come to expect. And beyond.
He's read it 10+ times already.

This just in!
Ordered this out of print copy on Amazon. It looks great. Will read soon!
Believe it or not, this is Emerson's first OWNED Barton book.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for explaining air travel to young children. Large type makes it easier for slightly older children, and the pictures give plenty to look at. They're realistic too. I plan to read this with our child a number of times before we fly.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate the illustration style and the page breaks on the text, but my son likes this and most Barton books. I like how he approaches every day things that kids are curious about. And good detail in the illustrations.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book at the airport for my son's first airplane ride from Singapore to the US. I read it to him a number of times on the plane. It is cute but typical in format and somewhat generic.

[Cws]

Br-Bar

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't even remember how many times I read this to Carsten when he was 2 and 3. Now, Aydin loves it just as much (almost). It's a great little book!