Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys (4)

Women of Action

by Karen Bush Gibson

A Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People  From the very first days of aviation, women were there. Katherine Wright, though not a pilot, helped her brothers Orville and Wilbur so much that some called her the “Third Wright Brother.” Pioneers such as Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of France ignored those who ignorantly claimed that only men possessed the physical strength or the mental capacity to pilot an airplane, and in 1910 became the first woman awarded a license to fly. A year later, Harriet Quimby was the first woman to earn a pilot’s license in the United States and in 1912 flew across the English Channel—another first.
           Author Karen Bush Gibson profiles 26 women aviators who sought out and met challenges both in the sky and on the ground, where some still questioned their abilities. Read about barnstormers like Bessie Coleman and racers like Louise Thaden, who bested Amelia Earhart and Pancho Barnes to win the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, sometimes called the Powder Puff Derby. Learn about Jacqueline Cochran who, during World War II, organized and trained the Women Airforce Service Pilots—the WASPs—to serve their country by ferrying airplanes from factories to the front lines and pulling target planes during anti-aircraft artillery training. And see how female pilots today continue to achieve and serve while celebrating their love of flight. 

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Feminism, Aviation, Childrens, 20th Century

240 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Karen Bush Gibson (also known as K.B. Gibson and Karen Gibson) has been writing, well, forever. She has written a little bit of everything, but got her start writing articles and features for magazines. Karen began writing children's nonfiction in 2001 with Capstone and loves bringing nonfiction to life for kids. Since then, she has worked with several publishers, including Chicago Review Press and Nomad Press. Karen has more than 30 books published (stopped counting at 30) and stays so busy that she's having trouble returning to her other love, mystery writing. "A Class on Murder" was released in 2012.

Reviews

[Austyn Eversdyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's interesting, if you like history and how far we came with airplanes this is a book for you

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys is written by Karen Bush Gibson and pays homage to twenty-six amazing women who are amazing aviator. This book is divided into five chapters: Pioneers of Aviation, The Golden Age of Flight, Wartime and Military Flying, All Part of the Job, and Making a Difference.

Gibson has written powerful, riveting, and concise biographies for each of these women aviators. She has meticulously written and researched the women rather well based on research from historical records. It was a rather interesting read and informative to me, because I am not well versed in the area of aviation – in fact the only female aviator in history is Amelia Earhart, but there are so many more. So reading anything about aviation is an education for me.

All in all, Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys is a wonderfully written book of mini-biographies about twenty-six amazing aviators, who happens to be women. It is a good read and reference book for anyone who wants to learn more about women in history.

[Gemini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess I never knew the history about women aviators. It's not something really taught in school & then Amelia Earhart was the only women you learned anything about. I was stunned to learn about how so many women were actually breaking records & making aviation a thing. I was glad to have picked up this book & learn so much about them. What these women went through is astounding & their accomplishments are amazing. Why we have never heard of most of them is unfortunate. They hit heights that other men didn't accomplish. How certain countries stood behind these women & helped them excel, while others were made fun of & prevented from pursuing flying is an outright shame. Women have always had an uphill battle & that hasn't changed much, unfortunately. There needs to be another book like this to discuss more about the history & their accomplishments. Plus this needs to be taught in school, at least read & share it, totally worth it.

[Clare Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but I cannot take seriously a book about women aviators that omits Amy Johnson, who, alongside her friend Amelia Earhart, was one of the most famous women in the world in the 1930s. It is my experience that when you ask ordinary members of the public to name any female aviators, Amy and Amelia are the only two names that come up. Amy was the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930 and only the third person to undertake such a flight solo. She was also the first woman to fly across the Atlantic the hard way - from east to west against the prevailing winds - and also set other records for flights from England to South Africa. She certainly qualifies for her Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions and Record Setting Journeys.

[Sue Jackson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author introduced the reader to 26 women aviators and many of them are unknown. It served as an introduction to those female pilots and their stories. Although it was interesting to read about female aviators, this book was not well organized. Many of the stories sounded exactly the same. The characters needed to be expanded and maybe put in a chronicle order. This book just didn't have a good flow.

I realize that this is a young adult book which may be why it read almost like a textbook. My suggestion would be to use this book as an introduction to the names of female aviators. Then did a little deeper and get an in-depth account of each aviator to learn so much more.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Hanna Reitsch; “No one knows how much she knew about the events of the Nazi regime outside of flying- but she clearly admired Hitler.”

Hey, how about we don’t give the benefit of doubt when the text states she ‘clearly admired Hitler’ and that she wore her Iron Cross ‘long after the end of the war’ and that she was one of the last people to see Hitler alive in his bunker.

And that he also really liked her.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it’s obviously not 100% comprehensive, this book is a great summary of notable women who accomplished incredible things in aviation. It’s a good introduction and includes a bibliography if you want to do further reading on the subject. This series seems like it would be great for middle schoolers.

[Nancy Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading the history how these women did in flying when growing up you only heard of one women Amelia Earhart.This book only had 26 stories but had parts at the end of the story if you want more with information on others .I was happy to learn more on Bessie Coleman who on the new quarter

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! Made me want to read about so many other women and visit all of the museums referenced.

[Layne Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty interesting read. It’s pretty fascinating getting to see how many women helped to pave the way for future female pilots.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful stories and I loved learning the history ofWomen in aviation.

[Antoinette]

A fascinating look at women in aviation.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It was filled with a lot of great information and was a breeze to get through (thank you, juvenile fiction!) I loved learning about all these courageous women. There are other titles in this series about other brave women during WWII, Colonial America, etc and I can't wait to pick those up!

[Andrea at Reading Lark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review Posted on Reading Lark 8/11/13: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2013/...

I love finding nonfiction books that showcase Women's History. For so much of historical record, men's stories dominated the focus. It's nice to see more and more women being showcased. I think this provides positive role models for young women. I also appreciated that this book features women from a variety of races. I can see several of my students really enjoying this one as a result.

When I think of women in aviation my mind immediately goes to Amelia Earhart. Hers is a story we learn when we are little. The mystery of her disappearance kept me fascinated. I loved coming up with hypotheses for her fate. I spent countless hours trying to figure out what nobody before had been able to discover. I expected to see her story lingering within these pages and I wasn't disappointed.

In addition to Amelia's story, there were also countless other stories that held my attention. Many of these women I have never heard of before, but their strength and courage is something to be admired. Many of the women in this book did amazing things in time periods where women were supposed to stay at home to be wives and mothers. These women craved adventure and something more than vacuuming and cooking dinner. It's hard not to be inspired by their stories.

I'd highly recommend picking this one up if you're interested in learning more about women in aviation or have a passion for Women's History.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: "At the turn of the last century, two brothers ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio."

This book tells the story of the famous (not so famous) female aviators of the last century. In a series of short biographies, the book takes the reader on a journey fraught with danger and discrimination. From the first female pilot ever licensed to the first female commercial airline pilots, the story introduces heroines from all types of backgrounds, all eras in history, and all over the world.

I found this book quite fascinating. There were a few pilots I had heard of, but most I had not. I liked that the book included aviators from outside of the United States, so many of these books tend to be heavy with Americans. (Not that their advances are not impressive, but other countries advanced in aviation as well.) I learned a great deal from this book, including that the first African-American pilot was in fact female and that the Soviet Union was the first country to allow female pilots in combat roles way back in the 1940s. It was inspiring to read about how these women overcame gender and racial discrimination and were able to prove themselves in the air.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in women's history, particularly women's aviation history. It is also a nice companion piece to Flygirl. It's also a great read for teens.

[Veronica]

This collection of mini-biographies of women aviators is a must have for every parent whose child has to do a biography project and for every teacher who assigns them. Sure we all know about Amelia Earhart - my daughter did a project on her a few years ago - and perhaps even Bessie Coleman, but "Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys" by Karen Bush Gibson will expand your universe.

Not only are the biographies short enough for your child to read on their own and not be overwhelmed, but they include citations so your child can dig deeper if needed.

For an excerpt from the book, visit my blog, Viva la Feminista.

[Emily Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was good. I thought it was good because there were some parts that I didn't get. What made me choose this book was my mom. My mom choose this book for me because she thought it looked interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes aviation. I think this author wrote this book because she wanted to share stories of female aviators. My thoughts about the themes of the story could be that even if someone says you can't do something you should try because they don't know what you can do.

[Gavin Williams]

No spoilers because it just can’t get any worse.

Sorry, just can’t read it. A comic book without pictures of the 26 greatest American women aviatrixes including the 1 of the first 10 women aviators to hold a pilots licence that was American.

Written like a fangrrl blog, very US centric. Just. Can’t. Bring. Myself. To. Read. Any. More.

Will take note of those listed and dig up legitimate bios elsewhere to inspire my daughters with, even Wikipedia’s got to be better than this.

[Jenn M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction to several of the most well-known female aviators for middle-grade to teen aged students. I had not heard of most of these women and enjoyed learning about the earliest females to tackle and excel in aviation. Chapters are short and introductory; will probably motivate further study in some students.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/...

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

All you wanted to know about every female aviator! Seriously, so much info here about ladies who deserve more historic cred.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick glimpse at the lives of many incredible women.
Fliers and adventurers, explorers and boundary breakers.
My only wish was to dive deep, soar farther into their lives.

[Judith Spero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wondering stories of individual events with various avaitors.