Sometimes my personal reading crosses paths with my professional reading. In all honesty, the line is often a blur, but there I was reading a decidedly adult book not at all related to kid lit and WHAM, a bunch of library holds arrived that dovetailed with my adult book. Maybe this is more a testament to my library search techniques than coincidence.
I am currently reading A Higher Call by Adam Makos.
It is a WWII story about the pilots of a damaged American B-17 bomber on it’s way home from a mission and a German Me-109 fighter, who meet in the skies above Europe. I had a little trouble getting started because I don’t especially like Makos’ writing style. Either he;s getting better as the book moves along, or I’m getting used to him. He tells the stories of both pilots, their encounter and what happened afterwards. I wish Makos had included a bibliography and index, but, if you like non-fiction, you should give this one a try.
Interestingly, i just got a pile of picture books about planes from the library. They range from wordless to factual.
The Boy and the Airplane by Mark Pett is wordless. It reminds me a little of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, but it is a lot happier.
A little boy os playing with his airplane and it gets stuck on the roof. When his ladder doesn’t reach, and all his other efforts to retrieve the plane fail, he plants a tree. We see his patience as he waits. Finally the tree is tall enough and the old man plays with his airplane again. I love the sepia tones and the simple illustrations.
Next up is Planes Fly! written by George Ella Lyon and illustrated by Mick Wiggins, a rhyming book about planes that
introduces young readers to different types of planes, their parts and their many uses.
Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton by Meghan McCarthy is a picture book biography of an aviation and auto racing pioneer.
Here is a tale to inspire any radar, but especially young girls. The simple text is approachable in this book about a little known record breaker from Pensacola, Florida. . The acrylic illustrations are bold and fun at the same time.Unlike A Higher Call, the endpapers are full of notes, quotes, timeline, and bibliography that make this title a starting point for research on Betty Skelton, or other on other women pioneer.
Finally, we have Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart by Julie Cummins and illustrated by Malene R Laugesen.
We all know about Amelia Earhart, but who has heard of Ruth Elder? She attempted to cross the Atlantic before Earhart. The lively prose of this biography capture Elder’s adventures and the can-do spirit of the time. I like that this book moves kids beyond Amelia Earhart and the resources at the end help readers delve a little deeper into early women aviators.
I hope you’ll find something in this list that catches your fancy.
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