Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History written by Keith O'Brien, reviewed by Sara Zielinski

Summary: Fly Girls dives into the lives of five different women and their role in aviation. Florence Klingensmith, Ruth Elder, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols, and Louise Thaden each fought for their right to fly. This book teaches the reader about how these women overcame obstacles and persevered. Between World War I and World War II, airplane racing became popular. Women were criticized for flying, but that didn't stop these Fly Girls. All they wanted was a chance to be up in the sky, racing against the men. Each woman has her own unique history and experience with flying. Fly Girls shows how each woman had an impact of flying and history as we know it. 

Straight Talk for Librarians: I enjoyed this book overall. I appreciated how it focused on different women and how they fought for their rights to be pilots. I think it was smart to include Amelia Earhart since she has the most name recognition. As a reader, I was glad to learn about four other women as well. It was nice to see how more than just Earhart fought to be taken seriously. O'Brien mades these women seem real with the pictures and descriptions. There is a glossary at the back of the book that helps makes the information accessible. I think this book can be used to learn about women in aviation. I think it depicts a particular period of time when women were starting to fight more and more against typical female roles. Fly Girls is empowering for young girls because it shows that they women pursued their passions and didn't let doubts prevent them from greatness. This book could have curriculum ties. It can mainly be used as a nonfiction text. The topic lends itself to history classes as well. I think this is a good book for a classroom library. I think the format of the chapters allow the reader to digest smaller bites.