Amazon summary, "From the acclaimed author of The Great and Only Barnum—as well as The Lincolns, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin's Almanac—comes the thrilling story of America's most celebrated flyer, Amelia Earhart.
In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth between Amelia's life (from childhood up until her last flight) and the exhaustive search for her and her missing plane. With incredible photos, maps, and handwritten notes from Amelia herself—plus informative sidebars tackling everything from the history of flight to what Amelia liked to eat while flying (tomato soup)—this unique nonfiction title is tailor-made for middle graders." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Pop quiz: What's the first thing you think of when you hear 'Amelia Earhart'?
...
For me, I immediately think of a woman who tried to fly around the world but crashed before she could make it.
There's also some vague association with the Bermuda triangle and her crash. That's a completely false association by the by, I think I just have it because of various fiction books I've read that have fictionally linked them together.
I have to give my spiel about history; I find it a tad boring to learn about history because history has usually been introduced to me through textbooks. Textbooks that are so horrendously boring that I'd rather read a children's cereal box for eight hours than the textbook for ten minutes.
History written in the fashion that this book is written in, well I really wished I had come across this sort of material earlier. The more good historical non-fiction books I've come across, the more I want to see what else is out there. This book was recommended to me by a very good friend, and I loved it.
So, the amazon summary actually did a good job. When I first tried to read this book I was a little put off by having to alternate between the action of losing Amelia Earhart, and learning about her life. As I got more into the book, I found that I wanted to learn much more about the woman herself rather than her disappearance.
Amelia Earhart is kind of inspiring for simply the way she defies the normal expectations of a female, she doesn't go out of her way to do it, she simply does what she wants to do because she wants to do it.
So if you want to learn more about Amelia Earhart, I strongly recommend this book. It doesn't really feel like learning, it feels like reading a good book.
I learned surprising tidbits about her, like how she cared for the sick and wounded returning from war, or that her mother had female pants fashioned for her and her sister when they were just kids. The little things that really paints the complete picture.
After reading this book, I can answer my own pop quiz more effectively: I think of Amelia Earhart as a woman who strove to take on the bits of the world that interested her. She also happened to fall in love with aviation and relentlessly sought out her passion.
Happy reading!
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