paperbacks_and_ponytails's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read because I didn't know much about Amelia Earhart. This focused mainly on her pilot career but didn't share a lot of her personal life. It was a quick short read, I had fun reading something different.
livogilvie's review against another edition
3.0
This was a pretty good book, I really enjoyed learning about Amelia's life- She is such an interesting person! So amazing, Van Pelt also didn't make this biography a bore to read! I didn't feel like it was all just one big article like some biographies are.
czarina_misha's review against another edition
3.0
I really didn’t know much about Earhart other than her solo flight across the Atlantic and the round the world flight when she disappeared. The author included a lot of the plane and flight specs, which I wasn’t as interested in, and contemporary (into the early 2000s) attempts to solve her disappearance and recreate many of her lesser known flights, which I did find pretty nifty.
ivydeliz's review against another edition
2.0
I started taking ground school 3 weeks ago and I found myself wanting to learn more about the famous people in aviation, specially Amelia Earhart. Go feminism! So I picked this book at the library because it had a cool title and was relatively short. *Sigh* My rating does not reflect my liking Amelia's story but the way the story is told. I found it really hard to get into it because it's told in a third person and too matter-of-factly, almost like a history book. I'm particularly upset that the author refers to Buzz Aldrin as a crewman on the second spaceflight to the Moon, which is completely wrong, as he was the second man to step on the Moon on the first Moon landing after Armstrong, and that was the fourth flight to the Moon's vicinity. As a biography, I would hope all the facts are correct and the only fact I did know was incorrect, so it degrades the credibility of this book.
Aside from that, Amelia's story is one of pure adventure and courage. Back when women were supposed to be at home doing laundry and flying itself was not very safe, she broke all the rules and after seeing an airshow she knew she had to do it herself. She flew across the Atlantic, participated in multiple flight races and broke tons of records, including men's records. What I loved about reading her story was that she didn't do this without mishaps or mistakes, she crashed her aircraft multiple times, she saw her fellow pilots perish, but no matter the risks she wanted to continue her journey.
This are the same ideals I have towards spaceflight, which would be the equivalent of flying in my generation. Many astronauts have perished, many mistakes have been made, but I still can't wait to do it myself! To experience flight, to not be grounded but to be free. At the end, it shows how many people have attempted to do the same flight across the world that took her life in her honor, as a proof of courage and determination. It's almost like a Tour de France or an ultramarathon or going to the Moon, we do this things "not because they are easy but because they are hard", because this is the way to show what we are made of.
Aside from that, Amelia's story is one of pure adventure and courage. Back when women were supposed to be at home doing laundry and flying itself was not very safe, she broke all the rules and after seeing an airshow she knew she had to do it herself. She flew across the Atlantic, participated in multiple flight races and broke tons of records, including men's records. What I loved about reading her story was that she didn't do this without mishaps or mistakes, she crashed her aircraft multiple times, she saw her fellow pilots perish, but no matter the risks she wanted to continue her journey.
This are the same ideals I have towards spaceflight, which would be the equivalent of flying in my generation. Many astronauts have perished, many mistakes have been made, but I still can't wait to do it myself! To experience flight, to not be grounded but to be free. At the end, it shows how many people have attempted to do the same flight across the world that took her life in her honor, as a proof of courage and determination. It's almost like a Tour de France or an ultramarathon or going to the Moon, we do this things "not because they are easy but because they are hard", because this is the way to show what we are made of.
rebeccabateman's review against another edition
2.0
A feminist and an enigma, Amelia Earhart is someone about whom I want to know and understand more. I'm not sure if there is enough content out there to really delve into her thoughts and motivations, and this bare-bones-junior-high-library find certainly didn't get there for me.
vegancleopatra's review
2.0
While I find Amelia Earhart quite compelling, I cannot say the same about this book. It is quite dry and fails at really bringing Amelia to life. I did expect some dryness due to the nature of this book publication and it being NF (although not all NF is dry by any means), but it was more bothersome than I would have liked. I honestly would really love to find a well-written historical fiction on Amelia, but that book does not seem to exist.
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