What does it take to fly?
Why can a sparrow cross the sky with a flick of its wings, a ladybird unfold hidden wings from beneath its shell, and a four-hundred-tonne aeroplane climb into the clouds, while a curious girl standing on her tiptoes, arms stretched wide, stays firmly on the ground?
In a sunlit corner of Mexico City, nine-year-old Mar a has one question she simply cannot let go of: what does it take to fly?
So she sets out to find the answer. She interrogates everyone about it: a sparrow and a ladybird, a masked superhero and her family and family friends. She discovers the four forces every flying thing must bargain with: lift, weight, thrust and drag.
And along the way, Mar a discovers some real heroes of Mexican flight: Emilio Carranza, the Eagle of Mexico, who flew a wooden monoplane named after an Aztec god; Emma Encinas, turned away from every flying school for being a girl, who earned her wings anyway; and Berta Zer n, who glimpsed Amelia Earhart's aeroplane aboard a ship as a child and never stopped reaching for the sky.
What Does It Take to Fly? is a warm, illustrated adventure that takes a child's curiosity as seriously as it deserves. It weaves real flight physics, Aztec mythology and Mexican aviation history into one soaring story, showing that science and wonder are not opposites, and that understanding how something works never makes it smaller. It opens it up.
A read-aloud treasure for curious children aged 5 to 10, and for the grown-ups who never stopped looking up. Perfect for young dreamers, budding scientists, and families who love stories that celebrate Mexican culture, courageous women, and the greatest question of all: why?
Buckle up. Mar a is about to find out what it really takes to fly.
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