Trailblazers: Amelia Earhart: First Woman Over the Atlantic by David Shephard, Sally J. Morgan
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers on January 5, 2021
ISBN: 9780593124581
Pages: 192
Genres: Biography/Autobiography
Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

Part of Trail Blazers series. Promoted as “A biography series for kids who loved Who Was? and are ready for the next level.” In 1928, Amelia Earhart was the first woman to cross over the Atlantic, except I learned that on that crossing she was simply a passenger, not the pilot. However in 1932, she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. About one third of the book is about Earhart’s early life before she learned to fly: growing up with an alcoholic father, nurse’s assistant in Canada during WW I, her schooling, and doing odd jobs to earn money for flying lessons. Only 10 pages were devoted to her infamous flight around the world when her plane went missing and only 5 pages devoted to the search. The author adds much more historical information and asides, especially about other aviators and planes of the period, and strays from genre of a true biography. Readable but there are better biographies available.

Reviewed by Barb Rehmeyer, Liberty Library