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"An engaging story of a spunky girl who follows her dreams...Violet is a terrific role model."- School Library Journal

"Breen makes good use of both comedy and perspective in action-packed pictures...This will make a great read-aloud; take it on a trip, and youngsters will happily follow along."- Booklist

"Violet is charming and fearless."- Children's Literature

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Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen: 9780425288191 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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Violet is a science-loving girl inventor with a flair for the air! Fans of Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer will love this classic underdog story by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning...

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Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905–1979) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

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Louise McPhetridge Thaden was an aviation pioneer and holder of numerous flight records during the late 1920s and 1930s. At one point, she was the most…

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Storytime with Brad Meltzer 🛩️ I am Amelia Earhart | NEW Read-Along

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Amelia Earhart led the way for huge advances in women’s rights as well as aeronautics. She did amazing things in her life, and this timeline outlines a few of them.

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Amelia Earhart may be best-known for her numerous aviation records, but it is Amelia's legacy of unfaltering determination and her can-do attitude for equal treatment of women that lives on.

She was born in 1897, but Amelia didn't board a plane until 1920. Then, when the pilot flew her just a couple hundred feet in the air, Amelia knew she had to fly. In 1923, Amelia became the sixteenth woman to receive a pilot's license.

On June 17, 1928, she departed from Newfoundland with pilots Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and Louis E. "Slim" Gordon. When her team landed in Wales 21 hours later, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, a record that was just one of many. Later, the pilot became the first woman and the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic. She also became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific. Then, shortly after her flight across the Pacific, Amelia became the first to fly solo from Mexico City to Newark.

On June 1, 1937, Earhart left Miami for her final flight. She hoped to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Sadly, Amelia would never complete this flight. On July 2, her radio lost contact and a rescue attempt began immediately. Although it became the most extensive air and sea search in naval history, Amelia was never found. In a letter to her husband, Amelia wrote, "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards." She said, "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

We celebrate Amelia Earhart to not only honor her life and career, but also Amelia's courage and strength.

Here are 10 facts you may not know about this famous aviator:

1. Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897.

2. Amelia saw her first plane at a state fair when she was 10 years old.

3. During World War I, Amelia became a nurse's aid in Toronto, Canada, to tend to wounded soldiers.

4. On December 28, 1920, pilot Frank Hawks gave Amelia her first ride in an airplane.

5. Amelia took her first flying lesson on January 3, 1921.

6. Amelia's first plane was a bright yellow Kinner Airster that she nicknamed, "The Canary."

7. While living in Boston, Amelia wrote articles promoting flying in the local newspaper.

8. In 1932, Amelia developed flying clothes for the Ninety-Nines that were advertised in Vogue.

9. Although she referred to herself as "AE", Amelia became known as "Lady Lindy" after her first flight across the Atlantic.

10. During her 2,408-mile flight to become the first person to fly solo across the Pacific, Amelia enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate.

...plus more fun facts!

11. Amelia didn't like wearing goggles while flying. Learn more about her goggles found in The Children's Museum's permanent collection.
12. Amelia also didn't like coffee or tea. Learn more about how she stayed awake while flying.

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Amelia Earhart may be best-known for her numerous aviation records, but it is Amelia's legacy of unfaltering determination and her can-do attitude for equal treatment of women that lives on. She was born in 1897, but Amelia didn't board a plane until 1920.

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Aerospace & Defense Industry in Arkansas - AEDC

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Aerospace and defense represents Arkansas' #1 export, and we are home to nearly 180 well-known aerospace and defense companies that include MRO, component parts, completion centers, and defense contractors as well as the Little Rock Air Force Base.

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Curriculum Materials - Wright Brothers National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)

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Below is our list of in-class (or at-home!) lesson plans. Scroll through our lesson plans to find the title of the lesson you’re interested in exploring, or browse through all of our curriculum materials below. Happy teaching!

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The ultimate goal of the Post Office Department was to provide coast-to-coast airmail service. Spanning the continent was accomplished in gradual phases, beginning with the establishment of flights between New York and Chicago in 1918. Later, airmail service was extended further west. Transcontinental service was put into operation in 1920. By 1924, scheduled airmail service between New York and San Francisco regularly required only 34 hours.

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Who are we? We're a basecamp for your next aerial adventure, a portal to backcountry flying in the Ozarks, and a gathering place for all that love aviation. Based at Louise M. Thaden Field in Bentonville, Arkansas, ICAO Identifier (VBT), Thaden Field is the hub of Arkansas' FLY OZ network, Summit Aviation's fixed base operation, home of Game Composites, and FLY OZ Club's "hideout".

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Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of “Brave Bessie” Coleman | RIF.org

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Nobody Owns the Sky is the story of Bessie Coleman, a young African American woman who pursues her d

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NOVA Online | Teachers | Classroom Activity | Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine | PBS

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Classroom Activity for the NOVA program Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine: In What’s Wing Warping?, students test the effects of wing warping by manipulating the leading and trailing edges on the wings of a paper airplane. Grades 6-8, 9-12.

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Looking for Wright Brothers Lessons? | Education World

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When I find a historically based nonfiction picture book that is also a page turner that keeps me on the edge of my seat, I know that my students are going to enjoy it. And I hope it is one that I can find primary sources to connect to. Jack Knight's Brave Flight by Jill Esbaum and Stacy Innerst was one of those books for me. Luckily, primary sources were plentiful.

About the Book

Jack Knight's Brave Flight focuses on a moment in time when U.S. Air Mail, the quickest way to get mail across the country, was in question. Plane crashes and pilot deaths put the program in jeopardy, with mail travel by train being a slower but safer option.

In a test of the Air Mail practice in late February, 1921, sets of planes and pilots planned to travel from east to west and west to east to move the mail. In a turn of events that fiction writers would write, the true story finds Jack Knight the last hope after delayed pilots and crashed planes. Jack battles frigid temperatures and snow storms while flying through the night. As you might suspect, he is ultimately successful and the funding for the Air Mail program is saved.

Author's and illustrator's notes, a robust bibliography, and a fascinating timeline giving other highlights of the history of the U.S. Mail round out the engaging back matter.

Where to Incorporate Primary Sources

When I think about bringing primary sources into a historically based picture book, one early question is where the primary source will be used in relation to the book. I have three simple choices: before the book, during the reading of the book, and after the book.

This book leads me to one option that is obvious to me, utilizing primary sources after I read the picture book to students. The story itself is paced so well and has no moments of rest, bringing readers from one intense moment to the next. I do not want to disrupt that story flow. The primary sources I have in my curated set really focus on Jack Knight after the flight account in Esbaum and Innerst's book. Chronologically, it makes sense for students to interact with those sources after reading the book.

There are many newspaper articles that can be found before February, 1921 in Chronicling America that give accounts of Air Mail through different cities across the country. Many of those show the expansion of Air Mail. The ones that show that Air Mail was at risk all relate to Congressional funding. As one might imagine, those articles can be challenging to read with little context. Because of this, I didn't feel these sources set up the book in the way I would have hoped. Again, I'm left with exploring primary sources after reading the book.

Two Paths for Primary Sources After the Book

Readers may be left with two questions after reading the book. What happened to Jack Knight? And what happened to Air Mail? Both questions lead to two interactions with primary sources.

To answer the first question, look to articles found in the curated set of primary sources accompanying this post. Ask students to read them collaboratively, with each group or individual working to chronologically share highlights of Jack Knight's professional life reported in news articles. End the readings with students then taking all of those highlights and coming up with a short number of character traits that would describe how people might have viewed Jack Knight after reading those articles.

Exploring the future of U.S. Air Mail gives students the perfect opportunity to explore Chronicling America . The twenty-million plus pages of digitized U.S. newspapers cover the rise of U.S. Air Mail. Students can search the database and explore articles. Working in groups, students can perform advanced searches covering just a month or two in each group. This allows students to become experts at their brief moment in time and add to the discussion on the topic.

News findings can be shared by printing out articles or utilizing an online collaboration tool. Either way, students should have some way to briefly summarize the findings. To focus students, have them pinpoint their attention on one element. For this topic, it may be looking at the geographic impact of Air Mail or possibly focusing on the pilots themselves. Whatever the focus, it will give students a way to target their summary when sharing what they find.

Whether through student exploring to find primary sources or through teacher-selected historical items, the primary sources can help students answer questions from this edge-of-your-seat picture book about aviation.

Tom Bober is a school librarian at RM Captain Elementary, 2018 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, and author of the upcoming book Elementary Educator's Guide to Primary Sources: Strategies for Teaching. He writes the Picture Books and Primary Sources posts for AASL's KQ blog and has written articles for several publications. Tom also presents at conferences, runs workshops, and gives webinars to promote the use primary sources in student learning. He began his career as an elementary classroom teacher, was also an educational technologist, and has spent the last nine years as a school librarian.

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: primary sources

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Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: Jack Knight's Brave Flight: How One Gutsy Pilot Saved the U.S. Air Mail Service by Jill Esbaum and Stacy Innerst -

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When I find a historically based nonfiction picture book that is also a page turner that keeps me on the edge of my seat, I know that my students are going to enjoy it. And I hope it is one that I can find primary sources to connect to.

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Our Reading Circle - Educational Kids Read Alouds 

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Flight School - A beautiful bedtime read aloud story for young kids | Determination

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Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first woman of African American and Native American descent to earn her pilot's license in the U.S. Known for performing flying tricks, Coleman's nicknames were: "Brave Bessie," "Queen Bess," and "The Only Race Aviatrix in the World." Her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to reach their dreams - and this became her legacy. Though her life and career were cut short in a tragic plane crash, her life and legacy continue to inspire people around the world.

Born in Atlanta, Texas on January 26, 1892, Bessie Coleman had twelve brothers and sisters. Her mother, Susan Coleman, was an African American maid, and her father George Coleman was a sharecropper of mixed Native American and African American descent. In 1901, her father decided to move back to Oklahoma to try to escape discrimination. Coleman's mother decided not to go with him. Instead, Coleman, her mother, and siblings stayed in Waxahachie, Texas. Coleman grew up helping her mother pick cotton and wash laundry to earn extra money. By the time she was eighteen, she saved enough money to attend the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. She dropped out of college after only one semester because she could no longer afford tuition.

At age 23, Coleman went to live with her brothers in Chicago. She went to the Burnham School of Beauty Culture in 1915 and became a manicurist in a local barbershop. Meanwhile, her brothers served in the military during World War I and came home with stories of their time in France. Her brother John teased her because French women were allowed to learn how to fly airplanes and, in the United States, Coleman could not. Her brother's stories, along with other news of pilots in the war, inspired her to become a pilot. She applied to many flight schools across the country, but no school would take her because she was both African American and a woman. Robert Abbot, a famous African American newspaper publisher told her to move to France where she could learn how to fly. Since her application to flight schools needed to be written in French, she began taking French classes at night. Finally, Coleman was accepted at the Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France. She received her international pilot's license on June 15, 1921 from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. She then returned to the United States.

Coleman's dream was to own a plane and to open her own flight school. She gave speeches and showed films of her air tricks at churches, theaters, and schools to earn money. She refused to speak anywhere that was segregated or discriminated against African Americans. In 1922, she performed the first public flight by an African American woman. She was famous for doing "loop-the-loops" and making the shape of an "8" in an airplane. People were fascinated by her performances, and she became more popular both in the United States and in Europe. She toured the country giving flight lessons and performing in flight shows, and she encouraged African Americans and women to learn how to fly.

Only two years into her flight career, Coleman survived her first major airplane accident. In February 1923, her airplane engine suddenly stopped working mid-flight and she crashed. She was badly hurt in the accident and suffered a broken leg, a few cracked ribs, and cuts on her face. Thankfully, Coleman fully healed from her injuries. This accident did not stop her from flying. She went back to performing dangerous air tricks in 1925. Her hard work helped her to save up enough money to purchase her own plane, a Jenny - JN-4 with an OX-5 engine. Soon she returned to her hometown in Texas to perform for a large crowd. Since Texas was segregated, the managers planned to create two separate entrances for African Americans and white people to get into the stadium. Coleman refused to perform unless there was only one gate for everyone to use. After many meetings, the managers agreed to have one gate, but people would still have to sit in segregated sections of the stadium. She agreed to perform and became famous for publicly standing up for her beliefs.

On April 30, 1926, Bessie Coleman took a test flight with a mechanic named William Wills. Wills piloted the plane while Coleman sat in the passenger seat. At about 3,000 feet in the air, a loose wrench got stuck in the engine of the aircraft. Wills could no longer control the steering wheel, and the plane flipped over. Coleman was not wearing a seatbelt. At the time, airplanes did not have a roof. Due to her un-fastened seatbelt, when the plane flipped over Coleman fell out of the open plane. She did not survive the fall. Wills crashed the aircraft a few feet away and also died in the accident. Her death was heartbreaking for thousands of people across the world. At her funeral in Chicago, famous activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett delivered her eulogy.

Though she died at the age of 34, her legacy continues to inspire communities all over the country. In 1931, the Challenger Pilots' Association of Chicago started a tradition of flying over Coleman's grave every year. Many aviation clubs were named in her honor, including the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, organized by William Powell in the 1930s, and the Bessie Coleman Aviators, which formed in Chicago in 1977. In 1995, the "Bessie Coleman Stamp" was made to commemorate all of her accomplishments. In 2023, the U.S. Mint released a special quarter featuring Bessie Coleman as part of the American Women Quarters™ Program.
Reflection questions:
Use the following questions before, during, and after reading the biography to deepen your understanding of Bessie Coleman.

What obstacles did Bessie Coleman face in the early 20th century and why did she face them?

How did Bessie Coleman advocate for African American people while she was a pilot?

What legacy did Bessie Coleman leave behind?

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Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first African American, and the first Native American, woman pilot. Known for performing flying tricks, Coleman's nicknames were; "Brave Bessie," "Queen Bess," and "The Only Race Aviatrix in the World."

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Amelia Earhart - The Official Licensing Website of Amelia Earhart

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Welcome to the official Amelia Earhart website. Learn more about Amelia Earhart and contact us today for licensing opportunities.

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Learn about WWII from Tuskegee Airman, Charles McGee and explore how you can help tell the stories of local veterans with the help of student reporter Ja…

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50 ideas to teach about flight & aviation : Fizzics Education

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Teaching students about flight brings a huge variety of options! From engineering to biology, find lesson ideas to form a vibrant teaching sequence that kids will love!

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COVID-19 Update: The university has modified its COVID-19 protocols for the opening of the Spring 2022 semester. Click here to read our latest updates.