Where does luggage go after check in? What happens in the control tower? How do planes actually fly? This interactive, lift-the-flap book takes you behind-the-scenes to uncover the hidden secrets of the airport – from a peek inside the cockpit to the hustle and bustle of departures.

In this follow-up to How Cities Work, we explore the earliest airports through to today’s giant transport hubs and what airports could look like in the future. Packed with amazing facts and illustrations from James Gulliver Hancock, it’ll surprise and delight readers young and old, ensuring they never look at air travel in the same way again.

Created in consultation with Tom Cornell, VP Airspace / Airfields, Americas at Landrum & Brown.

Contents include:

  • Airports Through the Ages
  • The Great Get-to-the-Airport Race
  • Find Your Way Round the Airport
  • The Maintenance Hangar
  • In the Terminal
  • Inside an Aircraft
  • The Control Tower Sees All
  • Preparing Planes
  • Ship That Cargo
  • The Incredible Luggage Journey
  • Airports of the Future

About Lonely Planet Kids: Come explore! Let’s start an adventure. Lonely Planet Kids excites and educates children about the amazing world around them. Combining astonishing facts, quirky humour and eye-catching imagery, we ignite their curiosity and encourage them to discover more about our planet. Every book draws on our huge team of global experts to help share our continual fascination with what makes the world such a diverse and magnificent place – inspiring children at home and in school.


All aboard! From the fastest to the longest, the oldest to the newest, through tunnels, across bridges and up mountainsides, take a fascinating ride through the world of trains in this brilliant new book from illustrator James Gulliver Hancock.

In this follow-up to How Cities Work and How Airports Work, young readers travel through history and around the world to find out everything they ever wanted to know about trains. Unfold pages and lift flaps to reveal bustling stations, old steam locomotives fuelled with coal, and high-speed trains zooming across Japan at almost 400 miles per hour!

And that's not all. See how trains reach the top of mountains, transport people under cities, and work beneath the sea. And don't forget to dress up - we'll take you on some luxurious journeys including the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, and The Ghan, which runs all the way across Australia!

How Trains Work is jam-packed with amazing facts and awesome illustrations, and was created in consultation with Anthony Coulls, Senior Curator of Rail Transport & Technology, National Railway Museum, UK.

About Lonely Planet Kids: Lonely Planet Kids - an imprint of the world's leading travel authority Lonely Planet - published its first book in 2011. Over the past 45 years, Lonely Planet has grown a dedicated global community of travellers, many of whom are now sharing a passion for exploration with their children. Lonely Planet Kids educates and encourages young readers at home and in school to learn about the world with engaging books on culture, sociology, geography, nature, history, space and more. We want to inspire the next generation of global citizens and help kids and their parents to approach life in a way that makes every day an adventure. Come explore!


Lonely Planet Kids How Ships Work

by Clive Gifford

Published 11 September 2020

The latest in our How… series takes to the waves to reveal the wonders of ships, boats and ferries and answers the questions of how they do what they do, what they’re used for and how they have changed over time. Featuring fantastic artwork by celebrated illustrator James Gulliver Hancock, words by author Clive Gifford and loads of flaps to lift, this is the quintessential kids guide to all things ships!

Raise anchor as you set sail through the ages, from wooden paddle boats and tiny coracles to swanky mega-yachts with helipads and paddle steamers in this companion to How Airports Work and How Trains Work. From gigantic cruise liners to beautiful sailing ships, young readers will travel through history and around the world to find out everything they ever wanted to know about ships. 

Lift the flaps to unfurl papyrus sails on an Ancient Egyptian ship sailing up the Nile, tour a historic Spanish galleon, zoom across the water at almost 320 miles per hour in a speedboat, and much more. See how ships stay afloat, cultivate wind power, and navigate using just the stars. Learn all about how the first simple boats carved out of tree trunks evolved into the giant super yachts and cruise liners of today, and take a look at the limitless possibilities of the ships of the future.

How Ships Work is jam-packed with amazing facts and awesome illustrations, and was created in consultation with the National Maritime Museum, UK.

About Lonely Planet Kids: Lonely Planet Kids – an imprint of the world’s leading travel authority Lonely Planet – published its first book in 2011. Over the past 45 years, Lonely Planet has grown a dedicated global community of travellers, many of whom are now sharing a passion for exploration with their children. Lonely Planet Kids educates and encourages young readers at home and in school to learn about the world with engaging books on culture, sociology, geography, nature, history, space and more. We want to inspire the next generation of global citizens and help kids and their parents to approach life in a way that makes every day an adventure. Come explore!