Pages from the recently discovered diary of Captain Manuel J. Arsenio, in which are recorded his many failed attempts to create a flying machine, starting in the 1780s with the Motocanary, progressing through the Aerial Submarine, the Hamstertronic, and sixty-seven other disasters. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

According to this droll mock-biography, whimsically set in the 1780s, would-be aviator Captain Arsenio "had little knowledge of physics or mechanics,... he demonstrated great patience and determination" in his quest for flight. Mixed-media collages picture Arsenio with an egg-shaped head and toothy underbite, dressed in a thin leather helmet, slack gray coat and patched olive-drab pants; his sepia-inked sketchbook mimics Leonardo da Vinci's. The narration alternates between a deadpan retrospective voice ("He placed so much emphasis on getting off the ground that he forgot... how to keep himself in the air") and excerpts from Arsenio's gung-ho Flight Diary: "Running + wings = access to heaven. It cannot fail!" The book recalls six doomed experiments; from the Motocanary ("If I concentrate enough birds together, the sustaining force will help me win the clouds. It cannot fail!") to the wooden, hydrogen-powered Aerial Submarine ("I'm still climbing upward, but I can smell something burning"). Argentinian author-artist Bernasconi, a pilot himself, creates multi-stage diagrams to document Arsenio's flights, from takeoff to ascent to maximum height and crash-landing. The reiterated "It cannot fail!" and slapstick outcomes yield a cumulative hilarity, and the Captain's quixotic optimism is endearingly loony. Bernasconi's aviation spoof is hard to categorize but well worth a look. Ages 6-up. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 3-5 Bernasconi documents the exploits of an imaginary 18th-century experimental aviator, Captain Arsenio, explaining that the book's diagrams and quotations have been extracted from the inventor's diary. Six failed attempts to fly are described, including such innovations as the bird-powered Motocanary and the highly combustible Aerial Submarine. Each contraption is introduced with a brief paragraph of text, a large illustration, and a quotation. On the following spread, in a âÇ£Flight Diary,âÇ  Arsenio details step by step how he operates that particular machine, becomes briefly airborne, and then inevitably falls to the ground. The collage artwork, which incorporates mostly metallic found objects such as springs and spoked wheels, features the determined but hapless adventurer rising and crashing in one spectacular disaster after another. Undaunted, he continues to proclaim that his next attempt âÇ£cannot fail.âÇ  Rube Goldberg fanciers may be intrigued by these attempts and might even be inspired to sketch some of their own alternatives. However, for most readers, the repetitive crash-landing humor most likely will fall as flat as Arsenio's flights. Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information