Amelia Earhart Is on the Moon?

by Dan Gutman

Overview

From the best-selling author of My Weird School: a new entry in the hilarious biography series that casts fresh light on high-interest historic figures.

Did you know that Amelia Earhart loved heights so much she built a roller coaster in her backyard? Or that she used to race worms with her sister? Bet you didn’t know that she took photographs of garbage cans to pay for flying lessons! Siblings Paige and Turner do—and they’ve collected some of the most unusual and surprising facts about the legendary pilot, from her childhood in the rural Midwest and the spark of her passion for flying to her record-smashing flights and her infamous disappearance over the Pacific Ocean.

Narrated by the two spirited siblings and animated by Allison Steinfeld’s upbeat illustrations, Amelia Earhart Is on the Moon? is an authoritative, accessible, and one-of-a-kind biography infused with Dan Gutman’s signature zany sense of humor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324017073
Publisher:	Norton Young Readers
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Series:	Wait! What?
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	206,842
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Dan Gutman is the New York Times best-selling author of the My Weird School series. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The History Mystery 1

Chapter 1 Stuff Your Teacher Wants You to Know About Amelia Earhart… 5

Chapter 2 Worm Races and Imaginary Monsters 8

Chapter 3 What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? 20

Chapter 4 The Early Days of Flying 25

Chapter 5 A Sack of Potatoes 33

Chapter 6 Getting Famous 41

Chapter 7 R-E-S-P-E-C-T 49

Chapter 8 Getting MORE Famous 58

Chapter 9 One More Good Flight 66

Chapter 10 The Last Leg 76

Chapter 11 So What Really Happened? 86

Chapter 12 Getting Even MORE Famous 93

Chapter 13 Oh Yeah? (Stuff About Earhart That Didn't Fit Anywhere Else) 98

To Find Out More… 104

Acknowledgments 105

Editorial Reviews

2021-08-18
Unexpected facts and fun trivia pepper a new biography of Amelia Earhart.

Siblings Paige and Turner, who both present Black, challenge each other’s Earhart knowledge as they share information about the famous pilot. There is no narrative as such. Written as a conversational exchange of facts between the two, the book covers aspects of Earhart’s life including her daredevil youth, a timeline of her impressive flight achievements, her unorthodox marriage to publisher G.P. Putnam, and her life as a celebrity. Even readers who are already well versed in Earhart lore may learn something new, such as the fact that astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s father helped prepare Amelia for her solo flight across the Atlantic. Young readers will enjoy the entertaining antics and background on her childhood, and lively illustrations complement the text. The infodump format moves readers from topic to topic briskly, providing an overview of Earhart’s life and career rather than an in-depth analysis. Many details are packed into a short book, which means that some heavier aspects of her story get a brief treatment that borders on irreverent. Gutman chose to include facts about Earhart’s first car, which she named “Yellow Peril,” in a section of additional facts; this racist term is glossed over rather than addressed with readers. (The reference to the car’s name will be removed in subsequent printings.)

Not a standout on the Earhart shelf. (Biography. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews