Children’s book roundup

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Updated: April 21, 2011 12:17AM

“AMELIA LOST: THE LIFE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF AMELIA EARHART,” by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade/Random House, 118 pages, $18.99): What happened to Amelia Earhart? Because nobody really knows, Chicago-area author Candace Fleming has turned this biography into a history/mystery thriller bound to allure readers 9 and up. Fleming’s exhaustive research debunks myths, some of them perpetuated by both Earhart and her husband, publisher George Putnam. This book provides a fascinating portrait of a courageous American figure whose flying skills were only average, whose judgment was flawed, and who was a fashion-oriented self-promoter. Still Earhart was determined to push the envelope for women’s rights and dreams, and her influence has been lasting. Fleming ably captures the contradictions. Earhart won enormous publicity as the first woman to fly the Atlantic in 1928 , but she was the “captain,” not the actual pilot. Never having felt right about that event, in 1932 she flew the Atlantic again, this time solo. On her flight to become the first woman to fly around the world, she and her navigator vanished on July 2, 1937. Some historians believe that Earhart’s scant hour of training on a complex new radio system may have figured in her disappearance. Alternating chapters reliving the final flight adds drama to the story. Sidebars about aviation (the first “air stewardesses” were all registered nurses) enhance this outstanding book, peppered with black and white photos, drawings, bibliography and source notes.

“NIGHT FLIGHT: AMELIA EARHART CROSSES THE ATLANTIC,” by Robert Burleigh, paintings by Wendell Minor (Simon & Schuster, 36 pages, $16.99): This expansive picture book for ages 4-8 captures the 2,026 mile solo flight that Earhart made May 20-21, 1932. She left Newfoundland at 7:12 p.m. in a single-engine Lockheed Vega she called “the little red bus.” Through a night of terror through clouds, rain, a broken altimeter, and ice on the wings, Amelia fought fear and loneliness. She kept her head and just short of 15 hours after takeoff landed in a grass field, wondering where she was. It was Ireland and she had beat the night. One of her famous sayings resulted: “Everyone has his own Atlantics to fly.” Minor’s vibrant gouache and watercolor illustrations share the raw emotions of the journey with panache.

“BASKETBALL BELLES: HOW TWO TEAMS AND ONE SCRAPPY PLAYER PUT WOMEN’S HOOPS ON THE MAP,” by Sue Macy, illustrated by Matt Collins (Holiday, 32 pages, $16.95): The first women’s intercollegiate basketball game was played on April 4, 1896, between Stanford and Berkeley. The winner: Stanford. The score: 2 to 1. This handsome picture book for ages 6-10 follows that game and the role of star guard Agnes Morley. Girls growing up today will find it shocking to consider the game as it was played then, from the confining rules to the bloomer uniforms. With no men in the audience except for the janitors who had to repair the hoops in the middle of the game, it was an all-female love fest for sports. Lush paintings highlight the young women’s determination and courage, helping make the book an engaging peek into history.

“WORDS IN THE DUST,” by Trent Reedy (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 288 pages, $16.99): Afghan girls’ harsh lives will astonish American children. Schooling and literacy, for example, are prohibited in many places. But this first novel by an American soldier who served in Afghanistan illustrates a spirit of determination and courage in the midst of cutting brutality. Zulaikha, born with a cleft palate and bullied by the village boys, as well as by her stepmother, finds great comfort in two things: Her older sister Zeynab and her desire to learn to read and write. Zulaikha never forgets that her mother was murdered by the Taliban because she had chosen to pursue literacy. American soldiers offer to correct Zulaikha’s cleft palate. When the first surgery falls through and Zeynab is suddenly married forcibly to a much older man with two other wives, Zulaikha faces the future bravely and makes her own decisions about fulfillment. This is a haunting, eye-opening read for kids 10 and up.