Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 06/01/2013 Ruth Elder, a contemporary of Amelia Earhart, set her sights on becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. At age 23, and after only a few flying lessons, she and her copilot set forth. Two-thirds of the way into their flight, the gas line sprung a leak, and they were forced to abandon the plane. Fortunately, they were rescued by a nearby ship. In 1929, she and 19 other women (including Earhart) flew solo across the country to prove women can pilot as well as men—and, in this depiction, do it with a few enjoyable comic interludes, too. After landing safely in Cleveland, the ever-optimistic Elder expresses her belief that women would one day become fighter pilots. Laugesen’s idyllic paintings capture Elder’s beauty and personality while complementing the text. Pair with Daredevil, by Meghan McCarthy, reviewed on this page. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 07/01/2013 Gr 2–5—Move over, Amelia…readers are about to meet Ruth Elder, Earhart's contemporary and fellow aviatrix. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh's solo Atlantic flight, Elder was determined to be the first woman to accomplish the same feat. "In 1927….Most people…believed that a woman belonged in the kitchen and not in a cockpit!" Undaunted, the stylish beauty queen and silent-movie actress was also a daredevil. Though a ruptured oil line left her and her copilot in the ocean, her plane in flames, "she never lost her courage or her lipstick." A few years later, she and 19 other women flyers, including Earhart, raced from Santa Monica to Cleveland, "…using only roadmaps and their own two eyes to find their way." While she lost her maps to heavy winds, and a forced landing caused a run-in with some cattle and a farmer's wife, she still managed to finish fifth. The clever, anecdotal text and vibrant spreads of the colorful planes and period costumes transport readers to another era, glamorous, yet restrictive toward the "fairer sex." Elder predicted that one day women would be fighter pilots…and she was right. An author's note and comprehensive source list are appended. Pair this offering with Marissa Moss's Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee (Tricycle, 2009) for a soaring look at women's history.—Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2013 From her beauty-queen wing poses to the flirty name of her plane, American Girl, pioneering aviatrix Ruth Elder was not only an able and ambitious pilot but also a savvy dame who evidently knew that glamour would do as much as raw achievement to promote the cause of women in American aviation. In a new field abloom with stunts and gimmickry, Elder attempted to beat Amelia Earhart to the goal of women’s transatlantic flight, with a wink and a kiss to the press, and the suspiciously scripted intent to fly off to Europe to buy a Parisian gown. Elder landed in the drink and Earhart grabbed the honor, but after a brief stint in Hollywood, Elder was back in the cockpit, vying with nineteen other women in a 1929 California to Ohio race that became famous as the Powder Puff Derby. Alas, Elder limped in at fifth but came away with great stories to tell and a secure place in aviation history. While Cummins avoids discussion of the possibility that aviation was a publicity stunt for Elder’s acting career, readers get the full flavor of a Roaring Twenties age of spectacle, through both the text and with Laugesen’s lightly textured pastel art, some based on period photographs. A brief closing notes comments on women in early aviation and offers a list of sources in various media. EB - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.