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A review by kdekoster
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming
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.'"