The recent ALA Youth Media Awards were exciting, and highlighted many worthy books. Wednesday's post on I.N.K. Rethink presented a thorough wrap-up of winning/honored non-fiction. Since the announcements, comments have been popping up about a title missing from that mix: Candace Fleming's 2011 Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
When it released last spring I posted a review at the Carthage College Center for Children's Literature site. I'm including a section of it here in hopes that this remarkable title will not be "lost" in the swirl of attention surrounding the recent awards.
When it released last spring I posted a review at the Carthage College Center for Children's Literature site. I'm including a section of it here in hopes that this remarkable title will not be "lost" in the swirl of attention surrounding the recent awards.
Fleming leads readers on a
surprising path to the truth behind Amelia’s winning smile and curly bob
despite the iconic cover photo and unsurprising title of her new book.
Including the fact that Amelia’s curls were not natural, as she often claimed,
we find countless examples of Earhart’s efforts to develop and maintain a
public persona as heroine/aviatrix, “otherwise flying opportunities will stop
rolling in,” (her own words). Fleming plumbs reliable sources to correct
misconceptions and shed new light on one of our brightest stars of the
twentieth century while maintaining an objective tone.
Revealed through intriguing specifics,
from her birth to her disappearance, Amelia becomes much more than a
mythologized cardboard figure. Aspects of self-promotion and some “not very
nice” decisions on the part of Amelia and her promoter/husband George Putnam
enrich our understanding of her many passions: for flight, breaking barriers,
risk-taking, and reaching her full potential. Exploring her many dimensions allows
readers a broader perspective of the role Amelia played in the advance of aviation
and women in American society. Fatal flaws leading to her disappearance (impulsivity,
over-confidence, and tunnel vision among them) serve to humanize Earhart.
Amelia’s experiences as a
social worker, advertiser, competitor, and clothing designer will come as a surprise
to most readers. Other worthy players in the development and popularizing of
aviation are given due credit, their points of view providing insight to
Amelia’s choices. The intense efforts to locate her lost plane are revealed
with enough suspense to engender a sense of possibility for success despite our
knowledge of history.
By Candace Fleming
Schwartz and Wade Books,
2011 (Random House Books)
Readers: age 10 and up.
Starred Reviews in Kirkus Reviews, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Starred Reviews in Kirkus Reviews, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
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