Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator

I am not a huge fan of biographies, so was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. One thing I specifically enjoyed was the language. It was written in a way that made it seem like a story as opposed to a biography of someone's life. There were very specific details and great use of imagery that helped me imagine what it was really like to live in Amelia Earhart's time. For example, one of the opening scenes in the book described a childhood experience of being at the county fair. The author describes how the smell of animal manure mixed with the smell of the fair food, and how everyone dressed up in "hats and jackets and long dresses," even though it was the summer. Although this information may seem unimportant to show more Amelia's life as a whole, it really helped set the mood of what it was like to live in the early 1900s. This use of language helped turn a dry informational text into a dynamic story, while still maintaining all of the facts about Amelia's life. Another positive thing about this book was it's use of informational illustrations. The book included text boxes on the side of the page with information such as timelines, the history of air travel, and information on other female aviators. This supplemental information was presented in a way that was both easy and interesting to read. Although the main idea of the book was to educate the reader on the life of Amelia Earhart, its use of additional historical information gave it an extra something special that pushed it from a "good book" to a "great book." show less

Amelia Earhart was perhaps the first historical figure I was ever interested in, and I think this is because of the way her life ended.. or didn't. I loved mysteries as a child, and it drove me crazy to be introduced to one that didn't have an answer. Of course, at the time I didn't realize she was such a fantastic role model as well, especially for a young girl. I think this particular biography does an exceptional job of outlining her passions and achievements. I also learned about new things that I didn't know, or didn't remember. For example, the biggest thing I missed was that I had no idea that she wasn't alone on the plane she disappeared in. This book was particularly text heavy though compared to some of the other books for show more youth I've been reviewing, so it is more likely to appeal to a rather passionate student. show less

A wonderfully prepared picture book on the life of Amelia Earhart. I enjoyed reading about her life and the illustrations were well done throughout. I appreciated the epilogue at the end of the book that discusses the various theories on her disappearance.

This book is for older readers although it has a picture-book format. The author describes Earhart’s childhood and how much she loved adventure games, maps, and atlases. When she couldn’t find games challenging enough, she invented her own. For example, she built her own roller coaster in her backyard when she was seven.

After World War I, it happened that Earhart visited a military flying field and she decided she wanted to fly. Her father arranged for her to ride in a plane and she was hooked. She managed to find a woman instructor and soon arranged to buy her own plane. As part of her learning process, she crashed more than once (into soft fields), but was never deterred. She became a social worker to support her hobby.

In 1928 she show more got a call from a publisher and promoter, George Putnam, who was looking for a woman willing to fly from Newfoundland to England with another pilot and a mechanic. She agreed and the three of them were successful, although they ended up in Wales rather than their original goal of Southampton. She became famous, went on a speaking tour, and eventually married George Putnam. She also became president of the first organization of licensed women pilots and helped start two commercial airlines. She continued to fly though, setting new records. (You can see a timeline of her achievements here.)

She wanted to prove she could fly across the Atlantic all alone, and in 1932 left from New Jersey for Newfoundland, and then out over the ocean. In spite of bad weather and mechanical problems, she made it Ireland. In 1935 she became the first woman to fly from Hawaii to California. Now she wanted to fly around the world. After several false starts, she left on June 1, 1937 with only one navigator, Fred Noonan. She and Noonan were last heard of on July 2 after they took off from New Guinea.

As the Amelia Earhart website reports:

"By June 29th, when they landed in Lae, New Guinea, all but 7,000 miles had been completed. . . . their next hop—to Howland Island—was by far the most challenging. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter ITASCA, their radio contact, was stationed just offshore of Howland Island. Two other U.S. ships, ordered to burn every light on board, were positioned along the flight route as markers. ‘Howland is such a small spot in the Pacific that every aid to locating it must be available,’ Earhart emphasized.”

Early the next morning, the Itasca picked up the message, "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." The ship tried to reply, but the plane seemed not to hear. At 8:45, Earhart reported, "We are running north and south." Nothing further was heard from her.

The U.S. government launched a massive search, but they were never found. Rumors and conspiracy theories have proliferated ever since. Some clues were found however on Gardner Island (now called Nikumaroro), a remote island in the western Pacific Ocean.

Nikumaroro Island is about 400 miles southeast of their intended destination, Howland Island. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) made several expeditions to Nikumaroro during the 1990s and 2000, finding bones and artifacts that may have belonged to Earhart and Noonan. They theorized that Earhart and Noonan might have crash-landed there, and survived for several weeks before succumbing to injury, starvation, disease or dehydration on the waterless atoll.

The clues they found included beauty and skin care products that may have dated to the 1930s, parts of a folding pocket knife, traces of campfires bearing bird and fish bones, clams opened in the same way as oysters in New England, and U.S. bottles dating from before World War II. Small pieces of bone were found but DNA analysis could not even determine whether they were animal or human. You can read more about the TIGHAR Earhart expeditions here, and you can read about their latest surprising findings here.

The author writes:

“Perhaps her most important legacy is what she has to say to all of us - male and female - about having the courage to take on challenges and pursue a dream. Think for yourself, she would say. Figure out what you love to do. And then go out and do it.”

Side bars provide more information on the history of the time. There are also many actual photos in the book, as well as illustrations by David Craig. At the end of the book, there are references and resources, including a list of websites with more information. The official Earhart website reports that she left a letter for her husband in case the flight proved to be her last:

“'Please know I am quite aware of the hazards,’ she said. ‘I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.’"

Evaluation: Amelia Earhart was always one of my heroes, and this book does justice to her story. I especially love the excellent collection of actual photos included in the book. show less

What an amazingly put together book! The information is not too overwhelming and the illustrations combined with real life pictures are outstanding. I often found myself staring at the detail in both forms of art. I would definitely recommend this as a fantastic read!

After reading this book I feel that I know much more about Amelia Earhart. She really was an inspiration to women. She felt strongly that woment could do anything a man could. An early 19th century femanist. The story begins with her childhood having adventures with her sister and goes on to tell her life up until her faitful plane crash. She was once an American celebrity and became an American legend.

At first I was surprised to see such a dense amount of text in a children's book. However, I found that the text did a really good job of thoroughly telling the story of Amelia's many flights throughout her piloting career. Although, I did think that they could have paid more attention to her disappearance and the different theories behind what happened to her (which I personally think is the most fascinating part about Amelia Earhart's story), as opposed to giving a play by play of every major flight she ever flew. Overall, still a good book.