Flygirl
Flygirl
Flygirl
Sherri L. Smith
Read Sherri L. Smith's posts on the Penguin BlogIda Mae Jones dreams of flight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn’t stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy’s gone now, and being a woman, and being black, are two strikes against her. When America enters the war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the WASP, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots—and Ida suddenly sees a way to fly as well as do something significant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific. But even the WASP won’t accept her as a black woman, forcing Ida Mae to make a difficult choice of “passing,” of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program. Hiding one’s racial heritage, denying one’s family, denying one’s self is a heavy burden. And while Ida Mae chases her dream, she must also decide who it is she really wants to be.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Historical Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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This book, FLYGIRL by Sherri L. Smith, is about an African-American girl a couple years out of high school in Louisiana in the 1940's, who has a passion for flying. After learning how to fly from her late father, she is intent on getting her pilot's license. To do that she works to save up enough money to go to the flying school in Chicago run by African-Americans where her father learned to fly. Then Pearl Harbor is bombed, and she feels that she has a duty to serve her country.

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