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Hi Kid Lit Friends,
Every Memorial Day weekend, there is an air show on Long Island in New York. We’ve gone a few times in the past, always marveling at the fact that humans have invented machines that allow us to fly. That leads me to today’s topic: pilots! I love reading stories about people who had the courage to reach for the sky.
The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee by Julie Leung, illustrated by Julie Kwon
I love this biography of Hazel Ying Lee who, as a young girl, was not afraid of anything. The moment she took her first airplane ride, she knew where she belonged. When people scoffed at her dreams of becoming a pilot, Hazel wouldn’t take no for an answer. She joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, becoming the first Chinese-American woman to fly for the U.S. military.
You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford
This beautiful book in verse follows the dreams of a young Black man in 1940 who, when Uncle Sam asks for his service, is determined to serve his country from the cockpit of a plane. From training days in Alabama to combat on the front lines in Europe, this is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the groundbreaking African-American pilots of World War II. Art by Jeffery Weatherford adds a haunting beauty to this book.
Thirty Minutes Over Oregon by Marc Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Melissa Iwai
The devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, drew the United States into World War II in 1941. Few are aware that several months later, the Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita dropped bombs in the woods outside a small town in coastal Oregon. This was the only moment during the war when bombs were dropped on the continental United States. While the bombs didn’t do much damage, Fujita was consumed with guilt for years after the war ended. Then, twenty years later, Fujita returned to Oregon, this time to apologize.
Born to Fly: The First Women’s Air Race Across America by Steve Sheinkin, illustrated by Bijou Karman
Master of nonfiction, Steve Sheinkin turns his meticulous eye for research to female pilots. Just nine years after American women finally got the right to vote, a group of trailblazers soared to new heights in the 1929 Air Derby, the first women’s air race across the U.S. Follow the incredible lives of legend Amelia Earhart, who has captivated generations; Marvel Crosson, who built a plane before she even learned how to fly; Louise Thaden, who shattered jaw-dropping altitude records; and Elinor Smith, who made headlines when she flew under the Brooklyn Bridge at the age of seventeen.
The Amelia Six: An Amelia Earhart Mystery by Kristin L. Gray
This delightful fiction middle grade book follows eleven-year-old Amelia Ashford—Millie to her friends. When she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime, to spend the night in Amelia Earhart’s childhood home with five other girls, Millie jumps at the chance. Once at Amelia’s house in Atchison, Kansas, Millie stumbles upon a display of Amelia’s famous flight goggles. She can’t believe her good luck, since they’re about to be relocated to a fancy museum in Washington, DC. But, her luck changes quickly when the goggles disappear and Millie was the last to see them.
