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Reviews
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming, Jessica Hische
librarylisa's review against another edition
4.0
I was reminded by a 39 Clues book that I wanted to read this book. Knowing very little about Amelia Earhart, I was fascinated and found her to be quite annoying! Unfortunately, my discussions of the book led to my husband forcing me to watch an episode of Star Trek about Amelia Earhart. Blech. Anyway, interesting book! Just don't discuss with a Trekkie!
hezann73's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing!! Loved learning more about this legendary figure - including the stuff that isn't as positive. I thought this was fascinating and HIGHLY recommend it!
melissa_reads_books's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.75
erine's review against another edition
4.0
The best part about this book was its balanced view of Amelia Earhart. I don't remember any other book treating her as anything but a heroic and daring woman who paved the way for women to do great things. Fleming actually includes unflattering stories about Earhart, which makes her seem far more real when combined with the stories one usually hears. And I don't think that telling tales about Amelia looking for publicity makes her achievements any less; they just make her seem like a far more balanced and realistic human.
The worst part of the book was all the interruptions. The story is told as two parallel tales - her life and the search for her after her final flight. But the story of her life is broken into by panels of information on flying, current events of the day, or smaller vignettes of Amelia's story. It became hard to read because not only was the biography alternating with the search story, but these little tidbits kept popping in. Not to say that they weren't all interesting and well-written. It was mostly just a formatting thing.
I've loved the story of Amelia Earhart since I read the Lost and Never Found books ordered from a Scholastic Book Fair when I was in middle school. Her disappearance is most mysterious, and Amelia Lost has more information and great storytelling than any other book I've read on Amelia.
The worst part of the book was all the interruptions. The story is told as two parallel tales - her life and the search for her after her final flight. But the story of her life is broken into by panels of information on flying, current events of the day, or smaller vignettes of Amelia's story. It became hard to read because not only was the biography alternating with the search story, but these little tidbits kept popping in. Not to say that they weren't all interesting and well-written. It was mostly just a formatting thing.
I've loved the story of Amelia Earhart since I read the Lost and Never Found books ordered from a Scholastic Book Fair when I was in middle school. Her disappearance is most mysterious, and Amelia Lost has more information and great storytelling than any other book I've read on Amelia.
annieliz's review against another edition
5.0
Stunning! I am generally not a nonfiction reader, but this totally knocked my socks off. I learned so much about what flying was like, and what Amelia herself was like. I never really considered the logistics of planning a trip around the world in 1937, but it was crazy! I really liked the way the book was structured - chapters of her life divided by chapters detailing the end of her last flight. The suspense was extremely engaging. Amelia was a tremendous woman.
kdekoster's review against another edition
4.0
Recap:
Amelia Lost traces both the life and the disappearance of one of the world's most renowned fliers: Amelia Earhart. Dispelling myths and including quotes and stories from primary sources, Amelia Lost helps readers to find the truth behind the daredevil aviatrix.
Review:
I did not want to read this book. At all. In fact, I probably never would have, except it's the very first contender in the very first round of SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books. And I know that the BOB doesn't do bad books. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Betsy Bird is pretty much obsessed with Amelia Lost. So, I read it.
And guess what? It's actually pretty darn fascinating.
Amelia Lost is like two books in one: the white pages give her basic autobiography, from childhood right up until her final flight. These pages are broken up with a number of photographs, news clippings, and anecdotes, all of which made my eyes bounce around like ping pong balls because I could never decide what to read first. Finally, I made a promise to myself that I would finish reading the paragraphs on each page before digesting the yummy little text features sprinkled about.
And you're probably thinking now, "Uh, didn't she say there were two books? What about the second?" Ahhh, the second story was my favorite. The second story was set apart on gray pages, interspersed throughout the white. It told of Earhart's initial missed landing and the following days of searching - a search that covered 250,000 miles and required today's equivalent of $58 million. A search that - if you know your history - never turned up a body or even a piece of a plane. And the most baffling part of the whole thing? These gray pages of the second story revealed that time and again regular citizens heard Earhart's cries for help and snatches of a possible landing location via the radio, but they were always ignored. Wow.
I am definitely not a big biography reader, but both the white story and the gray story had me completely engrossed in the life of Amelia Earhart. All throughout dinner tonight I kept feeding my husband bites of Amelia Earhart trivia (Did you know she was a professor at Purdue?!), and I have a sneaking suspicion that she's going to find her way into my day-to-day conversations for many days to come. I absolutely love fiction, but there's just something amazing about an adventure story/mystery that's actually TRUE.
Cheers to Candace Fleming for spending two years knee-deep in Amelia Earhart lore, sifting through it all to find the difference between fact and fiction, and then piecing it all together into this truly outstanding biography.
Amelia Lost is up against graphic novel Anya's Ghost. Who will come out on top?? Anya's Ghost is next on my reading list, and then I'll be back with my prediction!
Recommendation:
If you are at all interested in adventure stories, mysteries, history, or real-life fearless females, read Amelia Lost!
Quotable Quotes:
"'Why do you want to fly the Atlantic?' he asked her.
Amelia looked at him a moment, then smiled. 'Why does a man ride a horse?' she replied.
'Because he wants to, I guess,' answered George.
Amelia shrugged. 'Well, then.'"
-----
"Ever after he would remember his wife's eyes, 'clear with the good light of the adventure that lay before her.'"
Amelia Lost traces both the life and the disappearance of one of the world's most renowned fliers: Amelia Earhart. Dispelling myths and including quotes and stories from primary sources, Amelia Lost helps readers to find the truth behind the daredevil aviatrix.
Review:
I did not want to read this book. At all. In fact, I probably never would have, except it's the very first contender in the very first round of SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books. And I know that the BOB doesn't do bad books. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Betsy Bird is pretty much obsessed with Amelia Lost. So, I read it.
And guess what? It's actually pretty darn fascinating.
Amelia Lost is like two books in one: the white pages give her basic autobiography, from childhood right up until her final flight. These pages are broken up with a number of photographs, news clippings, and anecdotes, all of which made my eyes bounce around like ping pong balls because I could never decide what to read first. Finally, I made a promise to myself that I would finish reading the paragraphs on each page before digesting the yummy little text features sprinkled about.
And you're probably thinking now, "Uh, didn't she say there were two books? What about the second?" Ahhh, the second story was my favorite. The second story was set apart on gray pages, interspersed throughout the white. It told of Earhart's initial missed landing and the following days of searching - a search that covered 250,000 miles and required today's equivalent of $58 million. A search that - if you know your history - never turned up a body or even a piece of a plane. And the most baffling part of the whole thing? These gray pages of the second story revealed that time and again regular citizens heard Earhart's cries for help and snatches of a possible landing location via the radio, but they were always ignored. Wow.
I am definitely not a big biography reader, but both the white story and the gray story had me completely engrossed in the life of Amelia Earhart. All throughout dinner tonight I kept feeding my husband bites of Amelia Earhart trivia (Did you know she was a professor at Purdue?!), and I have a sneaking suspicion that she's going to find her way into my day-to-day conversations for many days to come. I absolutely love fiction, but there's just something amazing about an adventure story/mystery that's actually TRUE.
Cheers to Candace Fleming for spending two years knee-deep in Amelia Earhart lore, sifting through it all to find the difference between fact and fiction, and then piecing it all together into this truly outstanding biography.
Amelia Lost is up against graphic novel Anya's Ghost. Who will come out on top?? Anya's Ghost is next on my reading list, and then I'll be back with my prediction!
Recommendation:
If you are at all interested in adventure stories, mysteries, history, or real-life fearless females, read Amelia Lost!
Quotable Quotes:
"'Why do you want to fly the Atlantic?' he asked her.
Amelia looked at him a moment, then smiled. 'Why does a man ride a horse?' she replied.
'Because he wants to, I guess,' answered George.
Amelia shrugged. 'Well, then.'"
-----
"Ever after he would remember his wife's eyes, 'clear with the good light of the adventure that lay before her.'"
library_brandy's review against another edition
4.0
Amelia Earhart disappeared near the end of her around-the-world flight. But how did she get to where she was? And why didn't she make it all the way? Her origins and early record-breaking feats are interspersed with the drama of the last search for her, with no answers about what might have happened.
It's a little awkward to read this now, with all its questions of "what happened?"--when it's only a few months since some evidence has come out. (For the curious.) Unfortunately, this takes away some of the drama; as I read all references to the search I want to reach into the pages and say "THIS IS WHERE SHE IS GO LOOK HARDER." Still, if I'd read this a year ago like I'd meant to, it would have been a fascinating mystery.
It's a little awkward to read this now, with all its questions of "what happened?"--when it's only a few months since some evidence has come out. (For the curious.) Unfortunately, this takes away some of the drama; as I read all references to the search I want to reach into the pages and say "THIS IS WHERE SHE IS GO LOOK HARDER." Still, if I'd read this a year ago like I'd meant to, it would have been a fascinating mystery.
alexiskg's review against another edition
4.0
Amelia Earhart was a selfish jerk, turns out. I suppose it's only to be expected of celebrity adventurers. (She had the President build a secret multimillion dollar one-use island runway for her whim of a flight IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DEPRESSION, and stood up the radio instructor for every lesson she was supposed to have before her failed flight save for one hour on one day a week before she left.)
As for the book itself, very well executed; despite knowing technically what happened to Earhart (or knowing what we don't know about what happened to her), the interstitial time jumps to July 1937 made for a very compelling mystery/thriller framework.
As for the book itself, very well executed; despite knowing technically what happened to Earhart (or knowing what we don't know about what happened to her), the interstitial time jumps to July 1937 made for a very compelling mystery/thriller framework.
pussreboots's review against another edition
5.0
Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming is a combination biography and history of the search for Earhart's plane after it went missing over the Pacific in 1937. It looks at both pieces of Amelia Earhart's life with a candid skepticism.
Amelia Earhart, besides being a dare devil pilot, was one of the first modern celebrities. As Fleming explains, the autobiography that (even through my childhood) was taken as canon, was full of the story Earhart wanted remembered — even if details were completely fictional. Fleming isn't trying to discredit Earhart's genuine accomplishments or the tragedy of her disappearance over the Pacific. Rather, she's trying to put the myth into perspective with the facts and the time period in which Earhart lived.
As other reviews have mentioned, Amelia Lost isn't a rehash of previous books. I went into reading this book thinking I knew everything there was to know. I was wrong — even about the search and rescue efforts in 1937.
The book includes numerous photographs and copies of materials from Earhart's life. There is also a decent bibliography for readers who want to continue learning about the aviatrix.
Cybils Award Winner for YA Non-fiction 2011
Amelia Earhart, besides being a dare devil pilot, was one of the first modern celebrities. As Fleming explains, the autobiography that (even through my childhood) was taken as canon, was full of the story Earhart wanted remembered — even if details were completely fictional. Fleming isn't trying to discredit Earhart's genuine accomplishments or the tragedy of her disappearance over the Pacific. Rather, she's trying to put the myth into perspective with the facts and the time period in which Earhart lived.
As other reviews have mentioned, Amelia Lost isn't a rehash of previous books. I went into reading this book thinking I knew everything there was to know. I was wrong — even about the search and rescue efforts in 1937.
The book includes numerous photographs and copies of materials from Earhart's life. There is also a decent bibliography for readers who want to continue learning about the aviatrix.
Cybils Award Winner for YA Non-fiction 2011
benedorm's review against another edition
4.0
It's a good children's biography, one that makes excellent use of chapters that intercut Amelia's life story with her disappearance and its immediate aftermath. The structure goes a long way toward keeping the story interesting for a young reader -- no mean feat, given that we already know even before picking up the book that Amelia won't be found.
I've heard some buzz around this book as a possible Newbery medal contender, and in fact, I read it as prep for the Maryland Mock Newbery. Though it's quite good at what it does, it doesn't in any way deserve to win, not in a year that also produced Breadcrumbs and Junonia. It tells a good story, but it doesn't transcend the story it tells, which is what makes something a "distinguished literary contribution" to me. I'd recommend it to a kid who likes true stories, especially one who likes strong female figures, and I'd do that without question. But I wouldn't give it a medal.
3.5 stars
I've heard some buzz around this book as a possible Newbery medal contender, and in fact, I read it as prep for the Maryland Mock Newbery. Though it's quite good at what it does, it doesn't in any way deserve to win, not in a year that also produced Breadcrumbs and Junonia. It tells a good story, but it doesn't transcend the story it tells, which is what makes something a "distinguished literary contribution" to me. I'd recommend it to a kid who likes true stories, especially one who likes strong female figures, and I'd do that without question. But I wouldn't give it a medal.
3.5 stars