Wee and the Wright Brothers is the story of a clever mouse who lives in the Wright brothers’ West Dayton bicycle shop and reports on their airplane-building activities for his family’s newspaper, The Mouse News. When Wilbur and Orville build their powered Flyer and set off for North Carolina's Outer Banks to test it, Wee stows away in the Flyer’s crate. He eventually sneaks aboard the airplane itself to experience the world’s first powered flight.

Henry Holt and Co. published Wee and the Wright Brothers in 2004. I have to admit it isn’t easy to find these days in Dayton-area bookstores, although the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historial Park stocks it in the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center’s gift shop. But now it’s available somewhere I never expected — Taiwan. Publisher Taiwan Emma licensed a Chinese-language version of the book. It’s out in hardcover, with a parent’s guide and an audio CD.

I don’t speak or read Chinese, so I’m not sure exactly how the book is being marketed or used in Taiwan. (I wasn’t sure Wee was really on the CD, which includes several books, until I heard the sputter of the Flyer’s engine and recognized the cadence of the text as it counted the twelve seconds of Orville’s — and Wee’s — first flight.) If you read Chinese, you might learn more by going to this page and scrolling down to the section about my book: http://www.taiwanemma.com.tw/e55.html

It’s gratifying to see one of my books published in a foreign language, but it’s more gratifying to know that I’ve helped spread the word about Dayton’s aviation heritage to another part of the world — especially one where Ohio and the Dayton region have significant economic and cultural ties.

This Chinese-language edition isn’t marketed in the USA, and it isn’t available online. I can place large orders if there is sufficient interest. Of course, it’s best paired with the English-language version! Contact me if you’re interested.

Tags: Wee And the Wright Brothers, aviation heritage, Wright Brothers

Famed Mount Everest climber Edmund Hillary was born in 1919 on a small farm in Auckland, New Zealand. He loved wilderness travel and had begun climbing New Zealand’s mountains when World War II came. He joined the New Zealand air force and was trained as a navigator. He was only in the service for two years, but his navigation skills proved vital in 1957, when he led the first New Zealand expedition to the South Pole (his team reached it on Jan. 4, 1958.) Compasses are unreliable in polar regions, and the Antarctic summer brought 24-hour daylight. Hillary navigated with an astrocompass, a device which allowed him to determine the team’s location by measuring the sun’s position in the sky.

Tags: Edmund Hillary, Mount Everest, New Zealand, Antarctica, Astrocompass