Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
This is it! The last 2012 Rebecca Caudill Nominee of the year. Happy Dance!
Boom, boom, ba-boom. Boom, boom ba-boom. Duhbaduh duhbaduh duhbaduh BOOM!
Sorry. A little excited. And I love to finish with a good one. Okay, they’re all good – mostly.
Flygirl is the story about a young colored girl named Ida Mae. Ida Mae has “good” hair meaning that it is smooth and doesn’t kink up. She has fair skin meaning she could pass for a white woman. And her daddy was a crop duster meaning he taught Ida Mae how to fly! But, World War II is in full swing and everything is being rationed from silk stockings and sugar, to bacon grease and fuel. Ida Mae’s daddy’s plane is in indefinite storage.
Ida Mae would like nothing more than to get her pilot’s license or attend a flight school. Instead, she is stuck at home working as a cleaning woman with her best friend who happens to be decidedly colored and perhaps a bit jealous. They have been saving their money for their dreams. Jolene likes stockings and boys and dancing. Ida Mae wants to fly. And the war makes it difficult for both.
Ida Mae’s younger brother brings home an article guaranteed to brighten her day. It says,
Mrs. Jackie Cochran, the cosmetics mogul and celebrated pilot, has joined forces with the United States Army to train women as ferrying pilots, freeing men to fight in the war effort overseas. The program will be called the Women Airforce Service Pilots, an offshoot of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, begun by Nancy Love.
Ida Mae declares, “I’m gonna be a pilot in the U.S. Army.”
There is a catch. Most men and even women do NOT want to see women in the army. Men are privately intimidated by female pilots and vocally arrogant that women cannot perform their dangerous task. The women are concerned of the motives behind female pilots. Are they out to snag a husband? Are they loose with the abundance of enlisted men?
But if women are not wanted, colored women are taboo. Ida Mae must choose to pass as white in order to fly. So who is Ida Mae? A colored girl or a female pilot? And can she live with her choice. Should she live the lie along with the dream? When you pass for white, you cannot visit your colored relatives. Ida Mae should know. She has never met her daddy’s half of the family who choose to marry for opportunity and fair skin. Her daddy was the first to break with tradition.
Another book that had me hooked. I can identify with the mask many of us choose or are forced to wear in order to realize our dreams. We forget what is the truth and what is the lie. But we might discover ourselves in the process.
Excellent. Excellent! A recommended read for junior and senior high girls.
This is it! The last 2012 Rebecca Caudill Nominee of the year. Happy Dance!
Boom, boom, ba-boom. Boom, boom ba-boom. Duhbaduh duhbaduh duhbaduh BOOM!
Sorry. A little excited. And I love to finish with a good one. Okay, they’re all good – mostly.
Flygirl is the story about a young colored girl named Ida Mae. Ida Mae has “good” hair meaning that it is smooth and doesn’t kink up. She has fair skin meaning she could pass for a white woman. And her daddy was a crop duster meaning he taught Ida Mae how to fly! But, World War II is in full swing and everything is being rationed from silk stockings and sugar, to bacon grease and fuel. Ida Mae’s daddy’s plane is in indefinite storage.
Ida Mae would like nothing more than to get her pilot’s license or attend a flight school. Instead, she is stuck at home working as a cleaning woman with her best friend who happens to be decidedly colored and perhaps a bit jealous. They have been saving their money for their dreams. Jolene likes stockings and boys and dancing. Ida Mae wants to fly. And the war makes it difficult for both.
Ida Mae’s younger brother brings home an article guaranteed to brighten her day. It says,
Free a Man to Fight
Mrs. Jackie Cochran, the cosmetics mogul and celebrated pilot, has joined forces with the United States Army to train women as ferrying pilots, freeing men to fight in the war effort overseas. The program will be called the Women Airforce Service Pilots, an offshoot of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, begun by Nancy Love.
Ida Mae declares, “I’m gonna be a pilot in the U.S. Army.”
There is a catch. Most men and even women do NOT want to see women in the army. Men are privately intimidated by female pilots and vocally arrogant that women cannot perform their dangerous task. The women are concerned of the motives behind female pilots. Are they out to snag a husband? Are they loose with the abundance of enlisted men?
But if women are not wanted, colored women are taboo. Ida Mae must choose to pass as white in order to fly. So who is Ida Mae? A colored girl or a female pilot? And can she live with her choice. Should she live the lie along with the dream? When you pass for white, you cannot visit your colored relatives. Ida Mae should know. She has never met her daddy’s half of the family who choose to marry for opportunity and fair skin. Her daddy was the first to break with tradition.
Another book that had me hooked. I can identify with the mask many of us choose or are forced to wear in order to realize our dreams. We forget what is the truth and what is the lie. But we might discover ourselves in the process.
Excellent. Excellent! A recommended read for junior and senior high girls.
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