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4.38 AVERAGE
4.38 AVERAGE
How have I never heard of these amazing women? This is a fantastic story of the women who competed in the 1929 Air Derby, a race I never even knew existed. Looking for more inspirational stories about fearless women? This is the book for you.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Mitchell and I really enjoyed this book about the first female aviators! Amelia Earhart is the only one to come out of it infamously, but the other female pilots were so incredible!
In 1929 20 women flew across the country in the very first women's air dirby. There was sabatoge, deaths, lots of chicken meals, and a single winner. This is the true story of the first ever women's air race.
I was interested in this because I have a slight interest in Ameila Earhart. But there are so many other amazing female pilots I knew nothing about, particularly Marvel Crosson. The start of this book is a little slow and slightly confusing mostly because they all have similar backstories. But the race was fascinating, all that tampering with the planes and everyone's determination to fly. A great non-fiction read for a story that is definitely lesser known.
I was interested in this because I have a slight interest in Ameila Earhart. But there are so many other amazing female pilots I knew nothing about, particularly Marvel Crosson. The start of this book is a little slow and slightly confusing mostly because they all have similar backstories. But the race was fascinating, all that tampering with the planes and everyone's determination to fly. A great non-fiction read for a story that is definitely lesser known.
Like all of Steve Sheinkin’s nonfiction for young readers, this was engaging and thoroughly researched. So much I didn’t know until reading this book. Ages 10 and up.
Fascinating as always! I loved learning the backstories of many of the women who flew in the 1929 Women's Air Derby. It is the story of the women's fight to be considered relevant in the world of aviation. It is a story about these women's passion and dedication for flying. This true story is written like a novel and pulled me right in. It is a great example to young readers about the power of women, friendship, and having the grit to follow your dreams.
informative
inspiring
Non-fiction about the first women’s air derby and it brought tears to my eyes in places. I am so proud of these women for overcoming the challenges they had to overcome to prove that women belonged in the air just the same as men. This is non-fiction, but it reads as easily as fiction. The author moves the plot along and makes it exciting. I loved learning about all the different women flyers, their personalities, their backgrounds, and what drew them to aviation. I’ll be reading more by this author for sure. Highly recommend.
I will never say no to a Steve Sheinkin book and this one was no exception. Born to Fly tells the story of the first women pilots and the first Female Air Derby. It is a fascinating story with a lot of names I was not familiar with. Of course everyone knows who Amelia Earhart was, but what was interesting is that she was not the best pilot only the most famous and she knew it. At the time there were other famous female pilots like Pancho Barnes, Marvel Crosson, Louise Thaden and many others who flew the derby. They were beset by sabotage and problems that were never really investigated. The pilots believe that the sabotage actually led to the tragic death of one of their members. I am now fascinated by Louise Thaden, the winner of the derby, and several of the others. Sheinkin does a fantastic job showing how they all got their start in flying, generally from jumping off a roof! Marvel and her brother even built their own plane. He also shows the prejudice against women flyers and how they each had to fight for their place in the skies. The Derby itself was so very interesting. They flew from California to Ohio with multiple stops along the way. Each night was spent eating rubber chicken at a banquet (the pilots would have rather worked on their planes or slept). There were mishaps, crashes, breakdowns and so much more along the way. Flying was definitely different in 1929.
Sheinkin focuses on the 13 women who won the race called the Women's Air Derby of 1929, plus another few who did not finish - their planes crashed or they died - in this novel-length non-fiction book which would be great for readers in a wide middle-school range; 5th to 9th grade.
Full of drama, the narrative hops continuously between these "main characters" from stories of their childhoods, how they got into flying, preparing for the race, the race itself, and a little bit of their post-race lives.
Some readers may feel discombobulated trying to keep track of the various young women, and even for those who love the format and easily keep track of the different stories, it might wear thin eventually. Nevertheless, many readers will find it hard to put down, especially with occasional mentions of technological context reminding them of the fact that these first airplanes often broke down, crashed, caught fire, and the pilots & navigators were routinely injured, sometimes fatally.
Since this story is so compelling and appealing (as much as our popular maritime disaster stories), it is unfortunate that Sheinkin didn't include charts, graphs, timelines, and historical/political/social context. A list of the race's participants and their age at the time would have been nice to see - not just the list of the winners and their standing/time (p. 199).
As a gateway attention-grabber for reluctant readers, it **could have** helped kids place the nascent social acceptance of women as competent mechanics, collaborative leaders, and fiercely independent pilots in the context of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression...but readers will have to seek elsewhere for that.
B&w crayon-pencil illustrations throughout are the perfect pause for the eyes, but I very much wished the many photos were twice their size, as they are full of important and interesting details of equipment, clothing, facial expressions, etc., which were barely visible at half a page.
Despite these flaws, I highly recommend this book!
Full of drama, the narrative hops continuously between these "main characters" from stories of their childhoods, how they got into flying, preparing for the race, the race itself, and a little bit of their post-race lives.
Some readers may feel discombobulated trying to keep track of the various young women, and even for those who love the format and easily keep track of the different stories, it might wear thin eventually. Nevertheless, many readers will find it hard to put down, especially with occasional mentions of technological context reminding them of the fact that these first airplanes often broke down, crashed, caught fire, and the pilots & navigators were routinely injured, sometimes fatally.
Since this story is so compelling and appealing (as much as our popular maritime disaster stories), it is unfortunate that Sheinkin didn't include charts, graphs, timelines, and historical/political/social context. A list of the race's participants and their age at the time would have been nice to see - not just the list of the winners and their standing/time (p. 199).
As a gateway attention-grabber for reluctant readers, it **could have** helped kids place the nascent social acceptance of women as competent mechanics, collaborative leaders, and fiercely independent pilots in the context of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression...but readers will have to seek elsewhere for that.
B&w crayon-pencil illustrations throughout are the perfect pause for the eyes, but I very much wished the many photos were twice their size, as they are full of important and interesting details of equipment, clothing, facial expressions, etc., which were barely visible at half a page.
Despite these flaws, I highly recommend this book!