More than a century before the Wright Brothers invented their plane, Josephand Étienne Montgolfier sent a flying machine into the skies--a hot-air balloon with three animals in the basket. Go up, up, and away with them on their first, magical journey!

Back in 1782, in Ardèche, France, lived Joseph Montgolfier, a dreamer and an inventor who liked to learn about how everything worked. When one day a gust of wind blew his papers into the fireplace, he noticed that something lifted the pieces into the air--and he realized that heat could make things rise. With the help of his brother, Étienne, he began to experiment . . . and created a new kind of flying machine: a hot-air balloon! This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of how the balloon came to be, King Louis XVI's visit to see it fly, and the three animals--a rooster, a duck, and a sheep--who became its very first passengers.