Amelia Earhart Takes Off!

52 Pages·2019·18.785 MB·English

by  Meg Chorlian

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March 2019 Volume 40 Number 3 cricketmedia.com $6.95
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or some creatures, setting a flight record comes naturally. The common swift
is a perfect example of this. It can spend up to 10 months in the air
without landing! That’s the longest amount of time that any
bird has remained in continuous flight. These tiny birds weigh
less than 2 ounces, but their wingspans average 16 inches
long. Each year, common swifts migrate 6,000 miles.
They eat on the go. They mate on the go. They
molt on the go: They lose their flight feath-
ers in bits and pieces so they are never
grounded and waiting for
their feathers to grow
back like most other
birds do. Scientists now
wonder if they take
advantage of warm
air currents to
sleep on the
go, too.
DDiiscover AAmeriican HHiisttory
March 2019
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Florentine Films
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p ag ABOUT THE COVER
e
2018 18
W !
N E
2018 2018 In pursuing her passion for flying, Amelia Earhart
drew attention to the new industry of flight.
She brought enthusiasm and daring to the field
2018Parents’ChoiceMagazine of pioneering pilots.
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Primary Search and Middle Search
Readers’ Guide for Young People
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature
F E A T U R E S
A C T I V I T I E S
4 26
Young Amelia Speaking “Planely”
by Ginger Wadsworth by Nick D’Alto
8
High Fliers
D E P A R T M E N T S
by Gordon Grimwade
11
Crossing the Atlantic, Twice
2 Getting Started
by Ellen Donohue Warwick
16 Mapping It!
18
The “Ladybirds” Show Their Stuff 24 Did You Know?
by Chris Ware
by Shari Lyn Zuber
40 Going Global
21
A Good Match by Bryan Langdo
by Lisa Belcher-Hamilton 442 Freeze Frame
443 Your Letters
28
Final Flight
44 Just for Fun
by Ellen Hardsog 4445 Dr. D’s Mystery Hero
33 by Dennis Denenberg
The Search Continuues
46 Spotlight On . . .
by Will Bremen
by Ebenezer
36 48 Say What?
Meet Nicole A. Mann:
page 49 Cartoon Connection
A Pioneer in Flight Today
24
by K.E. Lewis
by Kathiann M. Kowalski
p ag
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33
I don’t know, but
her story and the
stories of the first
women pilots sure
are fascinating.
Do you think we
will ever know what
happened to Amelia
Earhart?
Getting Started
T he first heavier-than-air, By January 1921, she was taking her
manned, controlled flight first lesson. Later that year, she pur-
took place in 1903. It chased her first plane. By 1923, she
lasted 12 seconds. It went 120 feet. was a licensed pilot.
The Wright brothers built their Earhart’s parents helped her by
famous airplane mostly of being ahead of their time. They
wood with wings covered by a didn’t make Earhart conform to
light fabric. It ran on one small society’s expectations for girls. They
engine. It didn’t have a seat. encouraged her curiosity and her
Orville Wright lay down on his adventurous spirit. She carried that
stomach on the lower wing. independence into adulthood.
Yet, it didn’t take long for Today, Earhart is America’s most
airplanes and the idea of flight famous woman aviator. But she
to take off. They captured wasn’t the first or only pioneer-
people’s imaginations in the ing woman pilot. In 1911, Harriet
early 1900s. Crowds flocked Quimby became the first American
to air shows to see the latest woman to earn her pilot’s license.
flying machines. Those air- Americans Katherine Stinson and
craft seemed to defy gravity. Ruth Law became licensed pilots
Curious people went on rides. in 1912. Earhart’s first instructor,
Adventurous people learned Anita Snook, earned her license in
how to fly. 1920. Snook was the first woman to
That’s how Amelia work at a commercial airport. That’s
Earhart got started in her where she met Earhart.
In the early 1900s, air
aviation career. She attended air
shows attracted curious
shows while she was living in
crowds eager to learn about
Canada in 1918. She took her first
airplanes.
ride in an airplane two years later.
Aviation is the
operation, design,
development, and
production of aircraft.
2
In fact, around the time that
Earhart started setting records,
there were about 200 women pilots
in the United States. But flying was
dangerous. Some women died or
stopped flying after getting married.
Flying also was expensive. Pilots
could not always find the financial
support to pursue their interest as
Earhart was able to do.
Earhart had a valuable ally in her
manager and then husband, George
Palmer Putnam. He supported her
career. He generated publicity. He
lined up job offers. He also found
financial backers to support her
record-setting flights.
And Earhart established a num-
ber of records. She was the first
woman to fly (as a passenger) across
the Atlantic Ocean. She was the that women were capable of the same In May 1923, Amelia Earhart
first woman to fly solo across the things as men. She became an advo- became the 16th woman in
the world to earn her pilot’s
Atlantic Ocean. She was the first cate for women and girls to have the
license.
woman to fly round-trip across the same opportunities to follow their
United States. She was the first per- passions as men and boys had.
son to fly from Hawaii to California. When Earhart was asked why
She was the first woman to attempt she was attempting an ambitious
to fly around the world. Those and around-the-world flight, she
other accomplishments earned her answered, “Because I want to.” She
fame and the public’s admiration. understood that flying was danger-
Earhart had the opportunity, ous. She chose to do it anyway. She
drive, and means to pursue her flying never stopped looking for the next

career. Along the way, she showed adventure and aiming high.
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by Ginger Wadsworth melia hoped her grand- they raided the backyard garden. Or
mother had not seen her learning how to use a gun to shoot
jump the fence. She didn’t at rats in the barn.
want to be reminded to behave like Amelia’s parents, Amelia “Amy”
a young lady. Although at times Otis and Samuel “Edwin” Earhart,
Amelia enjoyed sitting quietly to married in 1895. Amy came from a
read, she liked exploring outdoors. well-to-do, socially prominent fam-
She played baseball and football ily in Atchison, Kansas. Edwin was
with equipment her father bought. one of 12 children and the son of a
She also enjoyed experimenting with poor minister. He worked his way
new ideas such as designing a trap to through college to become a lawyer.
catch the neighbor’s chickens when Edwin’s job was to settle claims
4
for the railroad. It required him to tional.” The girls collected toads,
travel a great deal. spiders, and lizards. They once were
Amelia Mary Earhart was born allowed to stay up late to see a lunar
on July 24, 1897, in Atchison. A eclipse. The family perched on a
sister, Muriel (nicknamed Pidge), shed roof to watch Halley’s comet Bloomers are loose
trousers that could be
was born in 1899. During the school when it appeared in the sky. When
worn under a skirt.
year, Amelia lived with her Otis Amy was cutting up a chicken for
Lard is the white solid
grandparents until she was 12 years dinner, she called the girls over rendered fat of a pig.
old. She developed a close relation- to show them all the chicken’s
ship with her cousins and saw her parts and how they worked. One
family during the summer and Christmas, Edwin presented the
on visits. girls with sleds called “belly whop-
Amelia and Muriel got much pers.” The sleds allowed the girls to
of their adventurous spirit from fly down the hill on their stomachs
their parents. Amy encouraged her instead of sitting upright on the
daughters to be what they wanted slower sleds that girls usually used.
to be. She allowed them to play in Once, after seeing a roller coaster
bloomers. Edwin took his daughters at a fair, Amelia, Muriel, and their
fishing and played sports with friends built one in the back yard.
Amelia Earhart lived
them. He told them exciting adven- The runway started on a roof that
with her well-to-do Otis
ture stories. stood about eight feet high. The
grandparents in Atchison,
The Earharts encouraged their children greased the wooden track
Kansas, until she was
daughters to try anything “educa- with lard. They made a little car 12 years old.
5
Air shows were a popular from a wooden crate. On the first employment. Times were tough
form of entertainment for ride down, Amelia bruised her lip financially. Amy and Edwin fought
crowds of spectators.
and tore her dress but loved it. about Edwin’s drinking. They sepa-
In 1906, Edwin accepted a new rated for a time while the girls were
I bet job in Des Moines, Iowa. The entire in high school and then reunited.
Amelia Earhart family moved there about a (They eventually divorced in 1924.)
was a lot
year later. At the Iowa State Fair in By her final year of high school,
of fun!
1907, Amelia saw her first airplane. Amelia, her sister, and her mother
“It was a thing of rusty wire and were living in Chicago. Amelia
wood and not at all interesting,” decided to attend Hyde Park High
she later recalled. She preferred the School because it offered classes
pony rides and the merry-go-round. that met her interests. Her favorite
For several years, the family stayed subjects were physics and chemistry.
together. She graduated in 1916 but skipped
But life began to change. Edwin the ceremony. She said that she did
started drinking heavily. He lost not need a piece of paper to prove
his job. The family moved several she had done the work to graduate.
times—from Iowa to Minnesota and That fall, Amelia enrolled in
Missouri—as he tried to find other Ogontz School, a finishing school
66
near Philadelphia. She began to While considering her choices, she
keep a file of women who had joined her reconciled parents. Amy
accomplished things. In December and Edwin had moved to southern
1917, she and her mother visited California. Edwin took Amelia to
Muriel, who was attending school in an air show in Long Beach in 1920.
Toronto, Canada. The United States Amelia persuaded him to pay $10 so A pacifist is a person
had not yet entered World War I she could have a ride in an airplane. who believes that
disputes between
(1914–1918), but the Canadians had “By the time I got two or three hun-
nations should be
been fighting in the war for three dred feet off the ground I knew I had settled peacefully.
years. Amelia saw injured soldiers to fly,” Amelia later recalled.
everywhere in the city. Some of Southern California was growing
the men had lost their legs. Others into an aviation center. The weather
were blind. That experience turned was pleasant year-round—ideal for
Amelia into a pacifist. flying. For the first time in her life,
In 1918, Amelia left school dur- Amelia found a job. She worked as
ing the spring term and returned a clerk at a telephone company. She
to Toronto. She enrolled in classes signed up for flying lessons. She cut
Earhart began taking
to become a nurse’s aide in a her hair and bought a leather jacket.
flying lessons in 1921 and
hospital for veterans. After receiv- She was taking the first steps toward
eventually purchased her

ing training, she worked 10-hour an exciting career. Y own airplane.
shifts taking care of patients. She
scrubbed floors and washed trays.
One day, Amelia and a friend
watched an exhibit of stunt flying.
The pilot did loops, spins, and
dives. Amelia later wrote
that “his little red air-
plane said something to
me as it swished by.”
After the
war ended on
November 11,
1918, Amelia went
to live with her
mother and sister
in Massachusetts.
Her time in
Toronto had
convinced her to
pursue a career
in medicine. She
enrolled in medical
school at Columbia
University in New York.
But after one year, she was
not sure that she wanted to
become a doctor.
7