Books with author Bruce LaFontaine

Explore the sand dunes of Mars; Saturn’s giant moon, Titan; the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility, and other distant worlds in this thrilling coloring book, which highlights major milestones in space exploration.Forty-four carefully researched, accurately drawn illustrations re-create a variety of exciting scenes that chronicle human attempts to explore space — from the launch of the first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926 to the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986. Other fully captioned drawings include the start of the “Space Race” with the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 (1957); the U. S. launch of a chimp into suborbital space (1961); first U. S. space walk (Ed White, June 1965); first space rendezvous (December 1965); first men on the moon (1969); Sally Ride, first U. S. woman astronaut (1983); and much more.

From Johannes Gutenberg's fifteenth-century printing press to Charles Hard Townes' relatively recent development of the laser, this fascinating coloring book encompasses five centuries of technology. Forty-five finely detailed drawings depict inventors and their historically important devices, comprising an inspiring survey of advances in science and industry.The excellent illustrations include James Watt's steam engine (1763), David Bushnell's submarine (1776), Count Alessandro Volta's battery (1800), and Samuel Morse's telegraph (1837). Among other featured innovations are Karl Benz's motorized wagon (1885), Thomas Edison's electric light bulb (1878-79), moving picture kinetoscope (1876) and phonograph (1895), Henry Ford's assembly line (1908), Jacques Cousteau's aqua lung for scuba divers (1942), and many more.Informative captions provide background information about the inventors and their inventions, making this not only an entertaining volume for coloring book enthusiasts but also an educational and fact-filled guide to developments in the world of science and technology.

Each page in this easy-to-read guide describes the features of a heavenly body in our solar system, including the Sun, the nine planets, the Earth's moon, and a comet. You'll also find a dramatic sticker illustration of each subject that you can apply to a blank space on the appropriate page.A fun way to learn about our cosmic neighbors, this fact-filled little book will also please teachers, parents, and other adults looking for educational and affordable learning aids for young space scientists.

From its origins as a sharpened stick in the days of cave dwellers, the sword developed over the centuries into one of mankind’s deadliest and most widely used weapons. This fascinating volume traces the development of the sword in 44 carefully researched, ready-to-color drawings. Authentically costumed depictions of sword-wielders both famous and obscure include Queen Boadicea, King Charlemagne, a twelfth-century Muslim warrior, a Puritan of the seventeenth century, and many others.Detailed, informative captions accompany finely wrought illustrations of a Sumerian bronze sickle sword (3000 B.C.), an elaborate Babylonian iron sword (600 B.C.), a steel sword of the Chinese Han dynasty (200 B.C.), a Scottish “Claymore” sword (1500), a Spanish basket-hilt broad sword (1650), a pirate “buccaneer” cutlass (1700), a Confederate artillery officer’s saber of the American Civil War period (1864), and 37 more.Coloring book fans, students of weaponry, and armchair swashbucklers will all relish this rich pictorial history of the sword and its many variations.

Train buffs of all ages will love the classic charm of these antique locomotives, rendered as stained glass designs. Boldly outlined, ready-to-color images depict eight different railroad engines from the past. Simply color these streamlined miniatures with crayons, colored pencils, or felt-tip pens and hang them in a window or near another light source for brilliant effects.

Based on the Odyssey, Homer's epic poem, The Adventures of Ulysses recounts the greatest adventure story of all time as it chronicles the amazing life of the Greek king, Ulysses, his perilous voyage homeward after the Trojan War, and his eventual return to the Greek island of Ithaca and his loving wife, Penelope.Bruce LaFontaine's 27 ready-to-color illustrations, with full captions, re-create a voyage packed with adventure and danger, describing chilling encounters with the Cyclops, a terrible one-eyed giant; deadly confrontation with a tribe of giant cannibals; and the narrow escape of Ulysses and his men from the hypnotic charms of the treacherous Sirens.Retold in a format suitable for colorists of all ages, this classic tale will thrill anyone fascinated by legendary feats of brave heroes and their voyages to mysterious worlds beyond the horizon.

This entertaining and informative coloring book features carefully researched and accurately rendered drawings of the homes and birthplaces of 36 U. S. presidents, plus the White House. From George Washington’s first home near Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Barack Obama’s childhood home in Honolulu, Hawaii, finely detailed, full-page illustrations depict these presidential residences:George Washington home, Mount Vernon, Alexandria, VirginiaThomas Jefferson home, Monticello, Charlottesville, VirginiaAbraham Lincoln home, Springfield, IllinoisTheodore Roosevelt home, Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, New YorkFranklin D. Roosevelt home, Hyde Park, New YorkHarry Truman home, Lamar, MissouriJohn F. Kennedy birthplace, Brookline, MassachusettsRichard Nixon birthplace, Yorba Linda, California…and many more.In addition, fact-filled captions provide historic information on each house and its presidential occupant.

The remarkable women in this collection of 44 carefully researched and meticulously rendered illustrations have been widely honored for their accomplishments in the field of aviation. After entering a profession almost completely dominated by men, they went on to play significant roles in aviation history.Each ready-to-color drawing depicts at least one woman aviator along with a picture of the aircraft they piloted. Among the outstanding figures depicted are Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander; American astronaut Shannon Lucid, assigned to the Russian MIR space station; Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Russian Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space; Russian female fighter pilots of World War II; Amelia Earhart, who made a solo flight across the Atlantic in 1932; Harriet Quimby, the first licensed woman pilot in the United States; and Blanche Stuart Scott, the first woman to "unofficially" pilot a place. Among other aviatrix spotlighted here are:• Hélène Dutrieu, Europe's first well-known female flyer, who piloted her first plane in 1909• Louise Thaden and the "Ninety-Nines," founding members of an organization promoting women in aviation (1929)• Bessie Coleman, the first African-American of either gender to earn an international pilot's license• Jackie Cochran, who became the first woman to break the sound barrier (c. 700 mph) in 1953Captions provide historical and biographical information in an entertaining and educational coloring book that will delight feminists, aviation enthusiasts, and colorists of all ages.

A staple of early twentieth-century fiction, space stations orbiting Earth became a reality when the Soviet Union launched the first of seven terminals in 1971. By 2002, sixteen nations had become involved in a joint project to design and construct the International Space Station.This fact-filled coloring book spotlights the many efforts to establish a docking station in space, including a 1950s concept for a "spoked wheel," similar to the docking station depicted in the 1968 film 2001, A Space Odyssey; the Russian MIR Complex (1986-2001); astronauts and cosmonauts constructing the International Space Station; a visualization of the finished project, complete with solar panels, thermal radiators, a U. S. research lab, and a habitat module; and more. Captions accompany illustrations in a book that will thrill colorists and would-be space travelers alike.

As long as there have been humans on the earth, the moon has been an object of fascination, awe, and fear, and has led to art, poetry, philosophical musings, and scientific inquiry. People have gazed up at the moon and speculated about its composition (green cheese?), the features that appeared to be a "man in the moon," the moon's power over human affairs (transforming people into werewolves or lunatics), and much more. In the last half century, however, the moon has become less a fanciful globe inspiring poets and dreamers and more the target of astronomical research and manned exploration.In this informative coloring book, Bruce LaFontaine spotlights both of these aspects of earth's closest neighbor in the solar system. Forty-four finely detailed, ready-to-color illustrations show a map of the moon; a scientific rendering of the moon's crust, mantle, and core; American Apollo astronauts exploring the moon; the heroes of H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon accosted by cave-dwelling lunar inhabitants; Galileo and his drawings of the moon; imaginative ideas of moon travel from as early as 300 B.C.; the moon's role in solar and lunar eclipses; Hollywood's 1950 version of a moon rocket, space suit, and terrain; a moon-based mining colony of the future; lunar craters; and other real and fanciful elements of lunar lore and history. Captions accompany each illustration in this unique coloring book, sure to captivate coloring book fans and thrill cosmic adventurers.