Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming
Schwartz and Wade
2011
118p.
Tells the story of Amelia Earhart's life - as a child, a woman, and a pilot - and describes the search for her missing plane.
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming
Schwartz and Wade
2011
118p.
Tells the story of Amelia Earhart's life - as a child, a woman, and a pilot - and describes the search for her missing plane.
How this story is told is one of the book's strengths. The chapters alternate between her life story and the events of her disappearance. The chapters about her disappearance made it a particularly thrilling read. The book is well-researched, and Fleming uses many direct quotes from Amelia. Compared to other juv non-fiction works where the writing style seems constrained probably by the author's attempt to simplify the writing for kids, her writing style had fluidity that never felt funneled toward a particular audience, whether kids or adults. And even though the book is a positive portrayal of Amelia, Fleming doesn't shy away from including criticisms of her, making the book a more honest portrayal of her life. Overall, this book works in so many ways and serves as an example of how juv non-fiction should be written.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Lisa O's assessment of this book--strong organization of data and plotting make Amelia Lost stand out. Lots of great detail, and Fleming didn't sugarcoat Amelia's personality or desire for fame. Thought the detail about Amelia E. not getting enough training on the radio in her plane was tragic, as well as the detail that on the last leg of her flight (heading for the Hawaiian/South Pacific area), she got rid of all kinds of stuff on her plane because of weight, including her Morse code key--yet she didn't throw away the 5,000 postcards she had sold in order to make $ off the trip. Wow.
Not being that interested in Amelia Earhart, I was surprised to find I enjoyed this book. I agree with Lisa and Athenagirl. The layout of the book, going back-and-forth between biography and Amelia's disappearance, kept me interested. I use to laugh at all the unsolved mystery shows that talked about possible sightings of Amelia and/or her plane after the disappearance. But after reading about all the shortwave messages heard by citizens, I'm wondering and reconsidering my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe story-within-the-story is a good way to keep the young reader going along. I would have liked more photographs - found myself comparing with the photo-biographies that Russell Freedman does. But taken as a whole, it is well-written, moves quickly, and contains information I'd not found elsewhere despite an interest in Earhart.
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