Astra is a sleek, shiny airplane who loves to go flying with her best friend, Captain Dan. But when Astra and Dan suddenly find themselves out of a job, Astra must wait in her lonely hangar for a new owner to come along and give them somewhere to go! As the weeks turn into months and the right buyer still doesn’t appear, Astra begins to wonder: Will she ever get to fly again?

Astra the Lonely Airplane is the first book in a new children’s series by author Julie Whitney. The story follows Astra, a private jet that is sad because she has to be sold, and the amusing escapades she embarks upon with her potential buyers, that she doesn’t like.

Astra and her pilot Dan are actually real and there is a QR code within the book to scan so that the reader can meet them both. For children, I can see this interactive feature being a big plus as they not only get a fabulous and entertaining story but they then get to see the real Astra too.

The plot is superb and has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. It keeps the reader engaged the whole way through and also educates them on the workings and architecture of aeroplanes. There is also a glossary of plane terminology at the back alongside details about Astra.

The text has been written in a rhyming style which is executed with finesse and vibrant and captivating illustrations adorn each page. I love the cheeky faces Astra pulls when she is having ‘fun’ with her new passengers.

Overall, Astra the Lonely Airplane is an amazing children’s book. It hopefully will help youngsters who may be feeling lonely to realise that they are not alone and to give them some comfort. I now look forward to reading book two – Astra in Hollywood.

Whitney is a public relations professional with more than 35 years of experience, having worked on both the agency and client side and also in the television industry. Her company, Phillippi-Whitney Communications, LLC founded in 2000, represents both large and small clients in a wide variety of industries. She has promoted dozens of authors throughout her career, often supplementing the efforts of the internal PR teams of their publishers. She also works as on-camera talent, appearing in both television commercials and video podcasts.

A Miami University grad, she lives in Cincinnati with her husband Dan, a corporate pilot, (Captain Dan in the book), who as a naval aviator and USNA grad, flew the P-3 Orion on active duty, and who has flown a Gulfstream G100 (Astra) for the past 13 years. With four grown children, they are now empty nesters, and love spending time with their Black Lab Brody, and also enjoy traveling, boating, golfing, and all types of physical fitness.

A fun fact about Julie is that she appeared as an Extra in the movie “Grease” which was shot on location in the summer of 1977 in Los Angeles.