Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

by Candace Fleming

Featured in the upcoming National Geographic documentary, Expedition Amelia ! This is a critically acclaimed look at the life, disappearance, and search for the legendary aviatrix, Amelia Earhart.

On May 21, 1937, the most famous female pilot of all time, Amelia Earhart, set out to do the impossible: circumnavigate the globe at its widest point--27,000 miles in all. Just six weeks later, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Eighty years have passed since that fateful flight; and still, Amelia's plane has never been found. Discover the thrilling life and tragic end of America's most famous trailblazing flier with this impeccably researched and masterfully crafted book from acclaimed author Candace Fleming.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

Named a Best Book of the Year by:
The Washington Post
School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Middle Grade, Childrens, Biography Memoir, Adventure

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2011

About the author

I have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.

I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.

Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.

In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.

As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones — tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.

After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.

But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2009 I heard Candace Fleming say--I think she was in the middle of writing this book--that the more she learned about Amelia Earhart, the less she admired her. I think that comes across in the book, though I don't know whether I would have noticed it or thought about it if I hadn't remembered her saying that. Earhart is a moderately interesting person, but not always for the reasons one might want. I thought it was especially clear that Fleming wasn't thrilled by Earhart carrying on with a married man; she doesn't paint it romantically or as a great love story, and the parts and quotes that could have been played up as such are pretty dry. (I liked that.)

The book is heart-thumpingly exciting in places, and I liked reading about several teenage amateur radio buffs who caught Earhart's final signals (or did they? would have loved more inclusion about how these kids came to light and what was/wasn't done to authenticate their accounts; it's made clear that the stories aren't authenticated). The best parts are those about the final flight and about her childhood.

I don't think this will be a Newbery contender unless the field is weak, but could be a Sibert contender.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love learning something I didn't know, and in this bio I found out that Amelia was the Lady Gaga of her time in terms of self-promotion. I had no idea how carefully she crafted her image, down to curling her straight hair, which she let the public believe was naturally tousled and windblown. I was left with two questions at the end, tho, which were did she ever meet Charles Lindbergh and how DOES one go to the bathroom on those long plane rides?

Also at Reading Rants: http://www.readingrants.org/2011/01/0...

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book with all my heart! Hands down, one of the best books published for kids in 2011. This biography of Amelia Earhart intersperses the details of her life with the details of her disappearance. The writing is excellent. From the very first page I was hooked and emotionally engrossed. I became worried about Amelia's lack of communication during her last flight and I tore through this book searching for answers. There are many pictures and copies of artifacts (letters etc) and the chapters are short and packed full of information. I learned things that other bios about Amelia hadn't covered such as how carefully her public image was crafted, especially with help from her husband, publisher George Putnam. This idea made me look at Amelia in a different light, but there is still much to adore about this heroine. The author does a good job of reserving judgment about her subject and just presenting the facts for the readers to judge themselves.

This would be a great book for a biography report, it just may be the best biography I have ever read for kids. I cannot say enough good about this book! I recommend it to EVERYONE!

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was incredibly interesting and informative right from the start. The photographs and inserts were perfect and really helped the history come to life. This was the most in-depth book I have read about Earhart to date. Her vibrancy in life made her disappearance all the more eerie and haunting. This was a well-written and accessible account.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming tackles a topic that has always interested me: what happened to Amelia Earhart? As the subtitle - The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart - foretells, Fleming brilliantly moves back and forth between Amelia's life and the involved search for her and her missing plane.

Fleming starts with a preface about the difficulty of separating facts from fiction concerning Amelia Earhart. Fleming emphasizes the point that Earhart represented the many opportunities becoming available for women. Fleming dives into the disappearance of the Amelia's plane on July 2, 1937. Fleming then alternates chapters on Amelia's life, starting with her childhood up until her last flight, and the disappearance of Amelia herself.

Among the details about Amelia's early life that I found particularly interesting: Amelia lived with her grandmother Otis in Atchison during the school year as a young child while her parents lived in Kansas City. Amelia nearly perished while sledding, but survived because she rode a sled lying down like a boy. After moving to Des Moines, her father began to drink and became an alcoholic, losing his well paying job. Amelia worked as a volunteer nurse's aide in Toronto for a year caring for World War I wounded.

Fleming shows that Earhart was not the best pilot, givng comments by other female pilots and a 3rd place finsish in a race, but Amelia did have lots of courage and preseverance. Fleming effectively makes the point that George Putnam helped keep Amelia's name in the news allowing her to lecture and earn money to pay for her expensive flights. The fact that Earhart became romanticly involved with Putnam while he was married is made clear.

Among the most damning of the details about the final flight was the fact that Amelia took only one hour to learn how to operate the new radio and learned only some basic information. Having only one crewmember on the flight, and that a man known to be a heavy drinker, was another questionable decision. An amazing fact was that an airfield was built on Howland Island by taxpayer money just for Amelia's round the world flight attempt.

Among the many interesting facts about the search are the various messages supposedly from Amelia heard by civilians. Gardner Island, often suspected of being the spot where the plane crashed, was briefly looked at early on but was dismissed as not having anyone visible during a brief air flyover.

Amelia Lost is an excellent biography but also a wonderful historical look at the early history of women in aviation. The weaving of Amelia's life and her disappearnce is skillfully done in a way to appeal to readers from middle grade and up. Including some of the theories about the disappearance might have useful and intersting for readers. This well researched volume concludes with source notes and a detailed biography including web sources. Two of the web sources I found particularly interesting were the TIGHAR site and Purdue University's Earhart archive site.

For ages 10 and up, daredevils, women in aviation, aviation history, biography, and fans of Amelia Earhart and Candace Fleming.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more than a dry “here’s the life of Amelia Earhart” story. If you want to know what she was like, what she was really like, you’ll find it here. She was a girl with a dream and penchant for adventure. And while she and her husband were brilliant publicists, it turns out she wasn’t very good at planning.
It starts out telling how a ship was waiting to direct Amelia to the island where they built a short runway and a place for her to refuel before the last leg of her trip around the world. The island was tiny, a mere 2 miles long and a half a mile wide, so they employed beacons of light at night and billowing smoke from the ship during the day to signal her. After some attempts to contact her failed, they heard Amelia report “Partly cloudy” over her radio, and then she reported through some static that she was 100 miles out. The radiomen on board the ship desperately tried to locate her. But at 8:45 am, they heard Amelia’s last frantic radio transmission alerting the crew to her location. She should have been right over the island, but they had no sight of her. Then, in the radio room, the crew heard nothing but “the mournful sound of that static.”
Then we are taken back to Amelia’s childhood, where she tried explaining her love of airplanes, and “of liking all kinds of sports and games and not being afraid to try those that, back then, were looked upon as being only for boys.” She said there was something inside her that always liked to try new things.
Infused with many quotes from Amelia herself, we feel like Amelia herself could have written this book for us. We learn about her best friends, her school life (there’s even a photo of one of her report cards!). We learn how her family visited the World’s Fair in 1905, where her mother wouldn’t allow Amelia to ride the roller coaster, declaring it too dangerous for a young girl. Did that stop her? No! Amelia returned home and built her own coaster in the yard, with wooden boards and baby buggy wheels.
Interspersed throughout the stories of Amelia’s childhood years, we hear stories of her last flight, and the strange radio signals received by folks across America, starting with Mabel, a homemaker in Texas, who was listening to an overseas radio program and claims to have heard Amelia’s distress signals over the airwaves.
We learn about how Amelia just knew she had to fly; we meet her flying instructor who charged a dollar a minute for the lessons. Amelia was strong-headed and insisted she do things her own way, and in doing so, she made some dangerous mistakes, like not checking her fuel levels. She was also very much into looking the part of the pilot – in fact, after an early plane wreck caused by her own stubbornness, she crawled out the wreckage only to be seen powdering her nose so they could look nice if reporters arrived.
By the end of the story, we are on the edge of our seats during the search and rescue, and you are left thinking that somehow she will have been found and is the one telling us her tale. Thrilling, detailed, loads of personal stories from the people who knew her, and plenty of pictures to make us feel like we knew her, too.

[Marjorie Ingall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely for adults as much as kids. Who knew Amelia Earhart was so image-obsessed? (Her "artless" short coif was carefully created every morning with a curling iron; she created her own narrative and mythmaking from the very start of her career; and even when she needed to dump weight from her plane she kept cards on board she could autograph and sell). She knew she was a brand, and the way she worked that is fascinating. The book delves into her fundraising for her adventures, her self-marketing, and her relationship with wealthy publisher George Putnam (who was married when they got together -- there's a delicious scene in which a moving truck shows up at the Putnams' house during a BBQ and Mrs Putnam moves out while George and Amelia are grilling weiners in the backyard). There's also great stuff about other female flyers of the day. You finish the book less convinced Amelia was a great aviatrix but more impressed by her ambition and business savvy. Oh, and the design of the book is gorgeous -- layout, font choices, use of photos.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The legend of Amelia Earhart seems to grow more and more mysterious with each passing year, and with it the true woman Amelia Earhart was gets lost in translation. In Amelia Lost Candace Fleming examines who the real Amelia Earhart was, and how she came to be seen as one of the most influential, and interesting, women in the past century. Beginning with her childhood and ending with her mysterious disappearance the reader gets a up-close and personal look at the women named Amelia Earhart.

The story of Amelia Earhart has gripped me from a very young age. I think the combination of greatness and mystery about her death is always something that interests young, and even older, readers. I loved getting to see who Amelia really was. One of my favorite parts about this book is the way that her disappearance is mention in every other chapter. I found this to be really interesting and it kept me reading. I also loved getting to see all of the old pictures and reading all of the different stories from Amelia's life.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was growing up my schoolroom classes would routinely learn about the great unsolved mysteries of the world. How they made Stonehenge. What really happened to the people of Roanoke? And why did Amelia Earhart disappear? Various biographies made of the woman for kids sort of allude to this question early in the book, forget about it during the middle section, then do a quickie wrap-up of it at the end. Basically, they take one of the most interesting mysteries in history and render it a dull dishwater gray. As such, an Amelia Earhart biography would not normally interest me. That is, before author Candace Fleming got her paws on the material. Fleming’s no fool. She knows that if you have a mystery then there is probably a pretty exciting story to tie onto it. Continuity has its charms, but why not chuck the standard bio format if you can get away with it? As such, we get Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Alternating between the “life” part and the “disappearance” part, kids get sucked into the nail-biting near misses of Amelia’s rescuers between biographical sections where you come to care about the woman herself. And, of course, it’s researched to the hilt. Nice, that.

When some of us think of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, we think of that eerie moment when she was there one moment and gone the next. In truth, it wasn’t like that. In fact, it was a lot more interesting. In alternating chapters author Candace Fleming jumps back and forth between Amelia’s biographical details and the many people who heard Amelia’s cries for rescue (in vain). There was the fifteen-year-old in Florida who heard “This is Amelia Earhart” issuing from her radio. The sixteen-year-old boy in Wyoming who heard it too. There was the housewife in Texas trying to find an overseas radio program. All these near calls are contrasted with Fleming’s many little-known Earhart facts. Amelia never really flew her “first flight”. She was given identical poses to Charles Lindberg in her publicity shots due to her likeness to the fellow pilot. Her father encouraged her, but also near ruined his family with his alcoholism. And maybe most significant of all, Amelia blew off her instruction in learning how to operate her radio . . . a choice that undoubtedly led to her death. With a director’s grace, Fleming draws the two storylines together in the end, leaving us with little doubt as to Ms. Earhart’s eventual fate. A Bibliography and Source Notes appear at the end.

I like research. I like knowing that an author likes research too. It gives me a sense of comfort in this cold and colorless world. The type of research Fleming brings to this book really puts this book ahead of pack, though. You’ve got your basic historic documents, maps, original photographs, etc. That’s fine. Then you have a newly released Coast Guard file on Amelia. That’s interesting. Add into that the documents relating to the folks who thought they heard her on the radio and you might be set. But what I like is that the Bibliography doesn’t just throw all these sources down without a blink, but rather separates them into different categories. So on the one hand you might have “Family members and friends also left behind numerous reminiscences of Earhart” with a list shortly after “In addition to these archival collections, Earhart’s published works were particularly helpful” After that Fleming includes reliable websites relating to Earhart and Source Notes. With all this research I guess I kind of hoped that there’d be a little more speculation in the text itself on what actually happened to her body and her plane. Fleming recounts the rumors from the time period but refuses to go any further, not even mentioning modern speculations. I can see why this choice was made, and Fleming does link to The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (who, as of this review, are planning to conduct an underwater search for Earhart’s plane in July 2012) but it would have been nice to see a little allusion to the general vicinity of the plane's possible last arrival too.

Want to know how you can get a kid who normally reads fiction into reading a biography? Here’s the trick. When talking up this title what you really need to concentrate on is how Fleming ratchets up the tension regarding Amelia’s rescue. Fleming meticulously covers the many close shaves and folks who accidentally heard her rescue cries, only to ignore them or misperceive them or, worst of all, report them only to be ignored. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if a certain kind of young reader skips the biographical details of Ms. Earhart’s life entirely and just reads the rescue mission sections alone. And it’s easy to forget while you’re reading that Amelia will never be rescued. Fleming’s writing is so intense, in fact, that I myself forgot this fact, half expecting to read about how they finally located her plane at long last on such-n-such an island. So to sell this to a kid you first play up the mystery element of her disappearance. Then you allude to her mysterious radio signals and the weird variety of folks who picked up on them. Kids love mysteries, and real world mysteries are some of the best.

I was speaking with someone the other day about failed children’s biographies and what exactly it is they do wrong. She made an excellent case, saying that if you have to ask “Why did you even WRITE this biography?” then the author’s doing something wrong. Earhart being who she was, you wouldn’t necessarily think such a question would arise, but even the most noteworthy individual needs a reason to have a whole book about them. You may be the first [blank] to have [blanked] but what does that mean, really? What does it signify? And why on earth should we have kids read about such a person? Fleming’s talents abound, but what I’ve always liked about her the most is her ability to show both the good and the bad in her subjects. The Great and Only Barnum did a superb job at synthesizing America’s best known humbug into a biographical format suitable for youth. So what makes Amelia noteworthy? Well, some of it is her accomplishments, sure as shooting. But in the end what Fleming manages to do is to balance our affection for the person with her need to advertise herself. Librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan called Amelia “the Lady Gaga of her time“. She curled her straight hair to make it look windblown. She filled her plane with signed stamp covers with the intention of sending the purchased items to folks after she finished her round-the-world flight. In the end, it may well be that the woman had more in common with P.T. Barnum than you might think. Pity those two crazy cats never met one another. You know that early aeronautics would have been right up Barnum's alley.

And then there’s what not to say. I told my husband that I was reading a children’s biography of Amelia Earhart and he responded, “Oh. Does it mention her open marriage?” Well, shoot. Bring that up why don’t you? We are dealing with a biography for the young ‘uns after all, and to bring up the whole open marriage thing would require one to go so far as to explain what an open marriage is in the first place. And pretty much once you’ve gotten that far you’re in territory best befitting a bio for an older audience, so for the most part I had no problems with what Fleming chose to exclude from the book. However, like the aforementioned Ms. Swan I did find myself wishing that Fleming had explained some of the rudimentary basics involved in long-distance flying. Mainly, how the heck did Amelia Earhart go to the bathroom up there? If you read a book about astronauts that’s one of the first things you ponder. If you read about early aeronautics, the questions are the same.

There are days when I feel like the totality of women’s history boils down to moments when one woman decided to do something cool, then found herself competing with other women who (for the sake of publicity) wanted to do the same thing. Amelia’s predecessor in this way would have to be Nellie Bly, the intrepid reporter who traveled around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds (not by plane). For this reason you might be inclined to pair Amelia Lost with Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly by Sue Macy. However, Fleming’s book would certainly have to be declared the superior of the two. Infinitely readable, even for those of the reluctant persuasion, Fleming melds fact and great storytelling together to bring us a tale as compelling as it is devastating. Not all great stories have happy endings and sometimes it’s more interesting when they don’t. Highly recommended.

For ages 10 and up.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just surfacing from a Reddit rabbit hole search on Ameila Earhart conspiracy theories... after that inspiration, how can I give this read anything less than 4 stars?!

In the realm of bios/info texts for a middle grade audience, this one is a pretty fun read! The sections alternate between a "live action" search for AE and a biography. The live action search reads in a thrilling manner, and the biography is readable with just the right amount of detail. I also loved the spreads peppered throughout that told the stories of teens who intercepted AE's distress signals from the continental US. Some of the sidebars got to be too much for me and took from the stories being told, which is what knocked this down to a 4.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most readers who pick up a biography on Amelia Earhart are, at this point, far more interested in her disappearance than her life. Fleming obviously understands this, but didn't let it get in the way of telling the fuller story of her life. She does this by alternating chronological chapters on her life with detailed sections on how she vanished. It works, in large part because if you know one thing about Earhart, it's that she vanished without a trace. The rest of her life story is interesting enough, and she emerges as a too-daring, publicity driven figure. If there's one big flaw here, it's that Fleming didn't flesh out the details of her mysterious disappearance quite enough. A few of the chapters deal with amateur radio operators possibly overhearing broadcasts from Earhart, or her navigator. And then she leaves it at that. Surely, those claims were investigated in some way. I would love to know what, if anything, was discovered, but I wouldn't know from reading this book. That's a shame, especially since it wouldn't take more than a few sentences. Still, it's a valuable book for learning more about the rest of Earhart's life, the part that's often glossed over so long after she vanished.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia fans, avert your eyes, because your heroine is about to get a shellacking. Fleming does an ace job telling Earhart's story, interleaving biographical chapters with dispatches from the searchers who looked for her when she disappeared. But this is no iconography. What Fleming makes vivid is Earhart's overweening need to be the IT girl of aviation. There were many better female flyers, but Amelia had the looks and the publicity machine (her husband) to make her the front runner. A telling story from a fellow flier: the two of them crashed, and Amelia stepped from the wreckage with a compact and comb, tidying herself up for the press.
She was charming, but ruthless - and careless. Examples? A friend, a British flyer who planned a series of US lectures found that they'd been cancelled, and that she'd been replaced on the podium by guess who? And her carelessness cost her her life. She didn't bother to learn how the radio in her last plane worked. And she hired a known drunk to do her navigation. Uh-oh.
Earhart would be a footnote in history if it weren't for her disastrous disappearance. She went from newsreel item to icon, and in spite of her flaws, she became a shining example that women can do anything a man can do. And women can also make mistakes, just like a man.

[Shaeley Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of Amelia Earhart's life. I learned that she lived in DSM for a time and that she worked for Purdue University. The main focus of the book was a record of what she did.

I wish there had been more information about the results of ongoing searches for her plane crash, even in the notes at the end. A few years ago, I heard a presentation about theories of where the plane went down. This book just focused on the search for her at that time and did not go beyond the few weeks following when she was last heard from. While it reported the different accounts of people who thought they heard her broadcast calls for help, there was no attempt at explaining the significance of them.

Several nice sidebars and lots of photos, newspaper articles, and other memorabilia in the book including a picture of her flying over DC with Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt which connects to Pam Muñoz Ryan's book .

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be one of my favorite nonfiction titles of all time - I loved the chapters that alternated back and forth between the search for the missing Amelia Earhart and the life that led her to that last voyage. This is narrative nonfiction at its very best...suspenseful, even though you know full well how it all ends. One more thing I love about Candace Fleming's research and writing is the way she paints a hero as a real human being, imperfections and all, and while this biography most certainly captures the daring and bravery of one of America's favorite female adventurers, it also shines a light on her role as a self-promoter and marketer, and on her flaws...including those that might have contributed to her disappearance. Fascinating and compelling, this is simply a story you won't want to miss.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars*

Succinct, accessible information about Amelia Earhart for young readers. I've read many things about Amelia Earhart over the years and I appreciated that Fleming did not sugarcoat or romanticize aspects of Earhart's life. I've long been an admirer of Amelia Earhart; however, she was also a complicated (and not always forthcoming) person and Fleming did not shy away from writing about this. Fleming's writing is nonjudgmental, rather it simply presents facts related to Earhart's life that may not been seen as favorable (i.e. her affair with Putnam, how her relationship with him boosted her career, etc.).

I loved all of the photos included, as well as the information about teens who heard Earhart broadcast over their home radios in the days after she and Noonan disappeared. I also learned something new--I had no idea Amelia had a childhood dog named James Ferocious!

[Johnny G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely intrigued by the disappearance of America’s most famous female pilot, and her navigator Fred Noonan. This book is written over a hundred large pages, chock full of information, and between the chapters there are shorter parts describing the faint radio reports and coast guard activity (and then naval activity) as to what was going on when Amelia’s plane vanished. The recent de-classification of a navy photo has me convinced that she was picked up by a Japanese fishing trawler, and imprisoned on the island of Saipan until she died - and I believe her plane was towed to Japan, that’s why it was never found in the Pacific.

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In anticipation of meeting Ms. Fleming next week at AISLE Survive, and because we were on our way to Purdue (where my daughter and I both lived in Earhart Hall--just a few years apart), I decided to read this. Growing up, I think I read everything I could about Amelia. (Wasn't she even the topic of some SRA passages?) This book does a wonderful job of weaving a story from several sources. Although it was very thorough, it still encourages me to read more. I hope to visit the Earhart papers at Purdue soon. This will be an excellent volume to share with students and lead to rich discussion.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave it five stars because I think Amelia Earhart is just so interesting. Finished it yesterday and then I see on the news they have new evidence of what happened to her. (Captured by the Japanese?! 😱😥). She was a true hero, a true feminist, independent thinker, and savvy business woman. After taking my kids to D.C. and seeing her goggles, her coat, and one of her planes I had to read about her again even though I had read things in the past. Going to share this one with Caroline when she is a little older.

[RowdySinger8276 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great at delivering information about Amelia Earhart. It was so interesting to read about her life and how people reacted to her disappearance. This book was a great source for learning more about an important figure in aviation history, and I recommend it to anybody curious about that subject.

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to see a new Amelia book for a new generation of young readers. This one is thoroughly researched. Chapters alternate between her last flight and her life story. Similar to the Titanic in interest, Amelia Earhart and her mysterious disappearance continue to generate buzz.

[SaraKat · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Amelia were alive today, she would be a social media star. I never knew how much of her life and image was owed to great publicity by her husband. Behind every good woman... he he he. She loved adventure and was afraid to be tied down as a wife and mother, and I'm afraid she died like she would have wanted--free and doing something awesome. I was pretty disappointed in how the reality stacked up against the mythology, but she is still impressive. I can't believe that she might have survived and made the trip if only she hadn't blown off her lesson with the radio specialist.

I liked how the book was arranged. It vacillated between the search and her life growing up. I thought it built tension and kept the pace perfectly.

She helped the cause of women by giving them a feeling that there was nothing they could not do.

This was said by her good friend, Eleanor Roosevelt. And it's true. When she was teaching, girls lined up to take her classes. She showed a whole generation of women that anything was possible. Her friendship with the Roosevelt's is certainly interesting and I couldn't believe they spent the taxpayer's money to build her an airstrip.

There are a great many boys who would be better off making pies, and a great many girls who would be better off as mechanics.

Amelia said this to an audience once. What a truth!

[Rashae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll split this review between what I liked and disliked about this book.
What I liked: it was a relatively short and succinct look at Amelia’s life. Incredibly thorough and comprehensive, this is a great factual account with dozens of pictures and clarifying information to understand the times. Amelia was incredible and her courage and intensity were clear. I really enjoyed learning about her life and story having known little of the details previous to reading this book.
What I did not like: unfortunately to me, I feel that I learned Amelia Earhart may have been a great role model for empowering women in the workplace, but not a great moral example or role model. The more I learned about her, the more disappointed I was and the less I admired her as I previously had. Her self promotion, love affair, and focus on flying at all costs were not empowering to me.

Overall, it was a good factual account of her, but did not necessarily paint her in the best light, which I realize is good for the sake of accuracy but not for encouraging her good name.

[Noel Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a Nonfiction for Youth seminar. I'm not one to gravitate toward biographies, but I've always been fascinated and inspired by women who set out to do exactly what men said they couldn't. Although I thought I'd be most interested in the alternating chapters about Amelia's disappearance, I was actually most fascinated by her life story. I never knew Amelia did SO much to keep up a positive public image (such as curling her hair to maintain her iconic style). I also appreciated that the author didn't paint her to be a perfect heroine, but an extremely headstrong woman who didn't necessarily get along with everyone who flew with her. I thought some aspects of the book were rushed or glossed over, but given this is a middle-grade nonfiction book, it did an excellent job of covering her life from birth to tragic disappearance. Although I knew we'd get no clear answer at the end, suspense is written into each chapter--and I learned so much about women in aviation I would have never known before.

I would definitely recommend this book to a child (or adult!) who is skeptical about nonfiction. It's a quick read, broken up with photos and interesting side-notes about Amelia's life that encourage further research. All in all, a pretty fascinating biography!

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book with my daughter as part of her history studies/literature studies. I learned a lot about Amelia Earhart's life that I was unaware of. The little notes about who she really was made the story more personal and gave inset into who she really was and not just all the records she broke. She was an amazing individual for the times she lived it. Reading about how independent she was from a young age was inspiring. She bounced around with what she did and wasn't just a pilot. The caring she showed the children in the home she worked in was amazing. How she kept challenging herself over and over with more than just flying. Loved reading about some of the little pranks she pulled...it made her seem more real to us as we read. Really enjoyable was to learn about her life and legacy.

[Raelene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that this book was very well researched, and would make a beautiful coffee table book, but I personally didn’t enjoy reading it.

The way photos/descriptions and side information were added made it a difficult book to read cover to cover. Some pages there wasn’t a natural stopping point for where you should stop reading the main story and read the added information. It just didn’t flow well for me.

I also found myself really not liking Amelia. I knew very little of her story, that’s why I wanted to read this. And while I think the author did do a good job explaining who she was and her life, I just didn’t find her to be a joy to read about. Even with the short length, I found myself getting bored and just skimming some areas.

[Molly Grimmius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected has a non- fiction read for Anne and she implored me to read it after her as she liked it so much. I knew very little about Amelia Earhart besides of her death. This book is so well done covering her whole life and then interspersed with the last day of her life and all the radio calls. There are so many pictures and added detail. A great read non fiction read for elementary and up.

[Lily Cheesman]

This book was solely used for my historical investigation. I wish to never have to read about Amelia Earhart or her fancy planes for an essay ever again.

But it did have pictures-

[Nicole Mazzella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
I learned a lot after reading this book that I didn’t know before . I felt the Autor did a great job telling also the not so positive things about Amelia. Overall a good quick read!

[Elizabeth Ricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot of things that I hadn't known about Amelia Earhart. Good easy book.

[Cia Mcalarney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children's book with loads of pictures that describes Earhart's life and disappearance. Sadly, one of the few books in print.