Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earheart

by Patricia Lauber

A fascinating look at the life of a remarkable woman and the unsolved mystery surrounding her disappearance during her attempt to fly around the world in 1937. Photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Collections, Juvenile

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Patricia Lauber is the author of more than sixty-five books for young readers. Many of them are in the field of science, and their range reflects the diversity of her own interests - bats, dolphins, dogs, volcanoes, earthquakes, the ice ages, the Everglades, the planets, and earthworms.

Two of her books, SEEDS: POP STICK GLIDE and JOURNEY TO THE PLANETS, were nonfiction nominees for The American Book Award. She was the 1983 winner of The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her overall contribution to children's nonfiction literature.

As well as writing books, Ms. Lauber has been editor of Junior Scholastic, editor-in-chief of Science World, and chief editor, science and mathematics, of The New Book of Knowledge.

A graduate of Wellesley College, she is married and lives in Connecticut. When not writing, she enjoys hiking, sailing, traveling, cooking, reading, and listening to music.

Reviews

[Mahdi Aljamri · Rating 5 out of 5]

دائماً علينا ان نقيّم الكتب بناءاً على قناعاتنا، لا قناعات الآخرين، عندما افتتحت الكتيب انجذبت لأول صفحة فيه، وعندما وجدت في الصفحات اللاحقة كثافة المعلومات بدأت أملّ منه، وكنت أود تأجيل قراءته واستبداله بكتاب آخر، وزاد على ذلك انني قرأت تعليقاً في القود ريدز لقارئ قد وضع نجمة واحدة للكتاب ووصفه بالممل.

ولكن، ما حدث انني وجدت في المعلومات الكثيفة المتعلقة بعائلة هذه الفتاة وكيفية نشأتها وجدت فيها تجارب أسرة مكافحة، دفعني ذلك لاستكشاف هذا البناء العائلي المهني والذي انتج إيميلي ايرهيرت.

وبما ان اسم الكتيب النجمة المفقودة فانه بالتأكيد هناك نهاية مأساوية لهذه الفتاة المثابرة.. وعليه عكفت اقرأ صفحة صفحة وعنوان كل فصل جيداً.

فقد اصبحت امرأة اربعينية، وكتبت الكثير من مذكراتها في الطيران الذي كانت تقطع به مسافات طويلة لم يسبقها احد فيها من النساء، ومن أميركا والى اوروبا، حتى قررت في النهاية ان تجتاز العالم كله، وعليه نسقت مع زوجها والسلطات الأميركية على اخذ الأذونات من الدول التي ستستقر فيها، الى اوروبا واستراليا وتايلند والهند والجزيرة العربية وافريقيا والى اميركا مجدداً.

ولكن الذي حدث انها بعد ان قطعت مسافةٍ كبيرة ورغم جل المخاطر التي تصادفها كانت تواجهها بالشجاعة التي وهبها الله، وتتشجع أكثر لتقديم المزيد.

في تلك السنوات ١٩٣٧ كانت اليابان في حالة عداء مع اميركا، والذي حدث ان إيميلي ايرهيرت والمساعد معها في الطائرة الصغيرة فرد يونان واجهوا خطورة التحليق على مسافة كبيرة جداً من البحر، إذ بدأ ينفذ عليهما الوقود رغم كل الاعدادات... حتى ساءت الاحوال ولم تستطع البحرية الاميركية تحديد مصدر اشارات طائرتهم حتى تقترب لهم ومساعدتهم للهبوط على ظهر الباخرة.

وانقطعت الاتصالات، ورغم البحث الكبير الذي قامت به اميركا لم تعثر لهم على أية أثر!

وما يعتقدونه او تعتقده الروايات الغير موثقة ان جزيرة تحت سلطة اليابان قريبة من موقع اخر اشارة تلقتها الباخرة الاميركية، يتوقعون انهما سقطوا هناك، اما من خلال نفاذ الوقود والسقوط، او بواسطة الاستهداف من قبل اليابان.

روايات اخرى تعتقد ان الطائرة سقطت على هذه الجزيرة، وقام الجيش الياباني بأسرهما واعدامهما سراً.

لكن كل هذا ما هو الا توقعات دون اي دلائل.

وحتى يومنا هذا، لا تزال قصة هذه الطائرة الصغيرة لغزٌ مُحيّر، رغم ان السلطات اليابانية اعلنت بانها بحثت في مياهها الاقليمية عنهما ولم تجد لهما أثرا آنذاك..

[Taneka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897. Amelia was a daring child and did not understand why girls could not do what boys could do. She lived for adventure and challenged herself throughout her life. Amelia began taking flying lessons and fell in love, setting goals for herself along the way. She became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the first to fly from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again. She set out to become the first woman to fly around the world, starting in Miami Florida and ending in Oakland California. She made it as far as Port Darwin Australia and was never heard from again.

Personal Response:
I only thought that Amelia Earhart was an inspiration because she dared to be a female pilot, but after reading this book I realize how wrong I was. She dared to do a lot of things and she set trends and goals for herself that most felt she should not be able to do, because she was a woman. One trend was her desire to wear pants and a bomber jacket. This is something that women of her time did not do. They wore dresses and blouses. She set goals for herself as a pilot by flying to certain heights to defeat previous records. As a child she did amazing things as well, building a roller coaster in her back yard and building traps to catch chickens. She did not desire to marry nor have children; she felt that it would only tie her down. My views on marriage were similar to that of Amelia, but she was able to navigate it and set her own rules. For example, before her wedding day she gave her demands to her fiancé. She didn’t want him to attempt to cage her and she wrote about her need for freedom and that if the marriage couldn’t work out, he needed to let her go. This is a daring move by a woman and she was truly ahead of her time.

Evaluative Critique:
This book presents Amelia as more than just a trend setter in aviation. It shows that before aviation, Amelia formed her own identity and wanted to excel in all things. She was a builder, she found ways to earn an income for things that she wanted, and she was an independent individual. There are something’s presented that make Amelia seem false. For example, building a roller coaster in the back yard seems to make her larger than life, and yet the events did occur. The book provides a historical perspective; however, it does not do a great job of keeping dates so that the reader may form a more accurate timeline. There is a photo of a takeoff date for the trip around the world for March 17, 1937, but the text states that the plane had to be grounded a few times for repairs and a new takeoff date is not given. This occurs throughout the book, including the omission of a date for Amelia’s last radio correspondence.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. She was seriously almost done with the journey when she went down in the Pacific. Wow! And if the Japanese did capture her, ugh, she was a world wide legend, an American daughter, just can't even. Solid children's book. I liked the explanation of the Lost Star at end of book. Nice index.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earheart, a short nonfiction book, is a quick, informative read. The story was well-written and flowed nicely.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, but it's old enough that some of the information about her disappearance is outdated. There are probably better books about her in the world.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I didn’t know much about Amelia Earhart. It told enough that you got an idea of who she was as a person, not just a trailblazer. I think I would have liked her.

[Diane Nospraka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost Star The Story of Amelia Earhart is a biography written by Patricia Lauber about this wonderful woman who made a change in American history. It has thirteen chapters, one section of further reading, and one index. Although it’s for children, Lauber gives us a lot of information of Amelia’s life since her parents’ meeting and the different locations where her family lived. Grandparents Otis were close to her and her sister too. Amelia and her sister Muriel were unusual girls who really loved doing “boys’ activities” to the point their mother made bloomers for them. Amelia’s family moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 1908, where her father worked as head of claims department and money was more than enough. By then, hard times began since Edwin spent time with co-workers and drank in excess. After some problems due to his alcohol addiction, he moved to Kansas City while Amy and daughters lived in Chicago. Amelia attended Hyde Park School due to her interest in science. In December 1917, she spent Christmas in Canada with her sister; after watching disabled men, she became a nurse in a Toronto hospital for veterans. Amelia entered Columbia University to study medical research; however, she was required by her parents to go to Los Angeles where she met Sam Chapman, a dear friend of her. Wartime fliers gave lessons to earn money and Amelia attended them. Her first job was in the mail of telephone company to pay those lessons. In 1921, she went up to 5000 feet and landed. She bought a second-hand plane after her family sold the Otis House on Quality Hill. In 1924, her parents agreed to divorce, and Amy and daughters moved to the East Coast. Amelia sold her plane and returned to New York City and Columbia to study Physics as well as she became a social worker at Denison House where she met people from other countries. She joined an aviation company and flew when she could. In April 1928, she was asked to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She was the right choice to do it; so, she did as captain of the flight, with Bill Stultz and Slim Gordon as mechanic of the mission. They flew the Friendship and after a flight of twenty hours and forty minutes they arrived in Wales. On May 20, 1932, she took off and completed a flight of fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes. She was a great friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife. Fred Noonan was asked by Amelia to flight with her all around the world, they headed for Puerto Rico and continued to Venezuela, Dutch Guiana, Brazil, the coast of West Africa, Karachi, Calcutta, Burma, Thailand, New Guinea, and their destination was Lowland in the Pacific Ocean where they got lost. There is incorrect information from “witnesses” who mentioned they saw them in Japanese islands as prisoners; therefore, we’ll never know what really happened to them. This biography is highly recommendable for every kind of reader.

[Natanael Merida · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, it talks a person named Amelia Earhart. She was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross because she did that. In 1937 she disappeared in one of her flight, she was attempting to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe. I think that the central idea of this book it to pursue greatness because of Amelia Earhart she wanted to accomplish many great things and at the end she did. One of the common phrases in the book is “Meely discovered”. I think that this phrase is very important to the book because as she became more and more into an important person she discovered good and bad things. She discovered that many people doubted her ability to flight because she was a woman. And she discovered that she could do things that people thought impossible. I like this book because it has good information and a good description of Amelia Earhart. I also liked that the title made it more interesting and intense because you didn’t know what the lost star was. I also enjoyed that you can discover new facts about her, for example, I didn’t she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In conclusion, it was a good book with lots of facts and historical records that might have changed the world

[Daniel P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that the Lost Star was a pretty good book, It gave a lot of information about Amelia Earhart and how her life was. Amelia was a great person because she fought for women's rights. She had a lot of dreams that she wanted to pursue and never thought that she would want to have a career as a pilot. She became really famous as a pilot for being the first women to fly over the Atlantic ocean along with many other hard obstacles in her life.

After she flew over the Atlantic she wanted to continue to fly. She started to fly from one place to another and she was beating records all over the world. People loved her and loved what she did, even the president invited her over to the White House because they were great friends. However she didn't like people crowding her all the time because she didn't do that much of the work. She had friends like a really skilled pilot and a really good engineer on some of the flights that she accomplished. She felt like they deserved some of the attention too.

I think the the author did a really good story about Amelia Earhart and her accomplishments. She wrote about her bad childhood and her future accomplishments. I thought the book was really interesting about Amelia Earhart and what happened in her life.

[Safa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books that inspired the child I was to pursue her dreams . What a sad fact that the kids nowadays spend their time watching silly videos instead of reading such books . Losing every chance that can change their destiny forever.
Anyway , I vividly recommend it to every kid , especially girls with big dreams and maybe it becomes a must-read when you grow up in a conservative society and with small mindsets . Emilia Erhart was my hero and still a bright star in the history of female pioneers.

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emilia Earhart, an ambitious woman with the drive to fly around the world. She was given a medal for flying across the Atlantic but this was not enough. The trip was close to the end and while in route to Howland Island Earhart went missing. The mystery still lies today at exactly what happened to her. I would recommend this book, it would be a great source for a history project as it tells the details of her life.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading good biographies written for kids, because they focus on the salient details without getting bogged down in minutiae. Reading this right after I finished Wind, Sand and Stars also gave me a new perspective on exactly how dangerous flying was back in the early days of the airplane, a perspective that I might not have had if I'd just read this book. Amelia Earhart's life was fascinating, and this book did a nice job capturing her desire for adventure.

[TrishaIyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the book Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earheart was really good. It even has a little greek story related to Amelia Earheart(AE) and her plane Lockheed Electra. This book explains the life of AE. It tells the possibilitys and challenges of AE's life.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography offers more details, but also more challenging vocabulary, and more chapters.

[غادة هاني · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing biography

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book a lot of information.

[Danielle Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great young readers' biography of Amelia Earhart.

[Dalaina Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s so sad she was never found and her family never got peace I feel badly for her husband George and for Fred’s family to! She was amazing!

[Hassan · Rating 2 out of 5]

قصة قصيرة لطيفة تسرد حياة الطيارة الامريكية اميليا ايرهارت ورحلتها الاخيرة وغموض اختفائها.

[부슈라 N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LIKE THIS BOOK , AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT'S BORING THEN IT STARTED TO GET MORE EXCITED , I LIKE AMELIA PERSONALITY,SHE'S A GORGEOUS WOMEN AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK !!

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

•It was actually quite boring like every other nonfiction book ever. But otherwise I learned a lot about Amelia Earheart.
•I chose this book because I needed a quick read and someone recommended it to me.
•This book is kinda boring but very informational. So if your looking for a book to learn a lot, this is the one.
•My favorite part of this book is when Amelia becomes a pilot and starts taking lessons. It important because she finally realizes what she wants to do and she makes the effort to make it her profession.
•Amelia Earheart started off not knowing what she wanted to do in the future and what she wants to do. As she went along in life, she went through hardships and problems and jobs which eventually led her to become a pilot. And she kept growing in her goals and what she wanted to do in life, and it all revolved around piloting airplanes.
•The theme of the story if to not hold back on what you want to do because someone doubts you or you doubt yourself. I like it because I'm Amelia's time, women had other responsibilities like taking care of a family and not following their dreams, but Amelia changed that by following her dreams, which led her to become one of the most appreciated women in America today.
•If I could change anything in this book, I would add a little more information about the characters to make it feel more personal. And so we could make more conception with the character.
•I liked that the author added a lot of facts and supported those facts. She stayed on topic yet also kinda drifted at times to make more of a effect.

[Johnny Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patricia Lauber does a good job introducing young adults to the character that was Amelia Earheart. This book starts with a little back story on the family Earheart and lays ground work for how Amelia’s life plays out. A youth that involved some moving around the country may have generated her love of traveling. Anybody who’s never heard of Earheart does not know this so spoiler alert – she dies in the end – maybe. The knowledge of the ending of the story always bothers me a little but in this case Patricia Lauber does a great job explaining the scenarios and theories that exist and then propagating the theory she believes in the most.
The two side topics that stand out in this presentation of the life of Amelia that blend well into the full story are questions of love and marriage and a healthy view of feminism. Earheart had family issues in her younger days and it made her future marriage more interesting. This impacts the story some without tainting it or casting judgments. As far as the feminism, Earheart, according to Lauber and interpreted by me, seemed to feel that women are equal to men but different. They may have different balances of needs, wants, and desires. But they don’t have to. And they should have equal opportunity.
I would suggest anybody with a burgeoning unfulfilled interest in early 1900s history or history of aeronautics would be advised to read this introduction to the time.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

She was quite the pioneer. It also discusses the mystery about her disappearance while trying to reach the Howland Islands during her flight around the world by the equator. The Howland Islands were so small-- 2 miles long and a half mile in diameter. You’d think they could have found a bigger island to land on for refueling. Her radio was not working properly and there was a lot of static so the US Coast Guard Cutter, Itasca, did not make any headway trying to communicate with her and Fred Noonan, her navigator. They were flying in cloudy, overcast weather. To this day we don’t know what exactly happened to them. Amelia’s 40th birthday would have been on July 24, 1937, but the Lockheed Electra plane went missing on July 2nd. The largest sea search in the history of the US Navy failed to find them and after searching 250,000 square miles of the Pacific the search was called off on July 19th. The US Navy was not allowed to search the Pacific Islands controlled by Japan. There is the suspicion that they were captured by the Japanese and executed or left to die of disease in prison. I hope that someday mankind can know what happened to Amelia and Fred. I admired Amelia. She stood up for what she thought was right in school and made the most of learning while in school.

[Ch_katiemcginnis]

Lauber wrote an inspiring book for all with her dipiction of Amelia Earhart's life. The book explains how Earhart grew up in Kansas and throughout the midwest, became a nurse ina Canadian military hospital during World War I, and after the war, she returned to college to study for a year before she moved to California. It was in Los Angeles in 1921, that Amelia took up flying. She quickly became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic within a decade of flying.
This book would work perfectly in grades 4-5 since it is finely written and easy to understand. Plenty of photographs and maps are included to tell the story of this remarkable woman, who when she disappeared in 1937, was known throughout the world as a model of grace and determination. I recommend it to any child who is interested in aviation, adventure, or just wants to read a story about a strong person like Amelia Earhart.

[Alondra Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost star is about Amelia Earhart the first female to fly around the world. Amelia was a very daring girl and didn’t agree as to why women couldn’t do everything men could do, she obviously proved everyone wrong because she was the first female to fly around the world. It also goes into the disappearance of Amelia and how the world reacted and tried really hard to find her. I liked this book it was very inspiring to see Amelia followed her dreams and how committed she stayed regardless of all the risks she knew she was taking. It was a very good book.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a simplified version of the Amelia Earheart story and was really easy to understand. It was very in intriguing. I think the author did a really good job in telling the story of Amelia Earheart's life and what people think happened to Amelia when she got lost. I would recommend this book because it was short and simple, which made it really easy to understand.

[Shivani Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Earheart was the first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She never lost hope and dared to do everything what men could do. Despite all odds, she continued to venture to new heights, till she disappeared while flying under circumstances, not known to anyone.

[Cws]

JAR6-Ear

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very well done YA book. It had facts from her childhood as well as her adulthood and accomplishments. I'm anxious to see the movie and this book set the stage for me.

[Fia]

It told a good life story!