Amelia Who Could Fly - Mara Dal Corso

4.5 STARS

ABOUT THE BOOK -

This lovely little picture book tells the story of Amelia Earhart as a young girl, growing up and dreaming her unconventional dream. With grace and joy, Amelia’s early adventures show young readers that with hard work and imagination their dreams might just be obtainable. She really was Amelia Who Could Fly!
Illustrations capture period details and the spirit of the times, while the biographical details and lyrical text make the story of Amelia Earhart accessible to today’s youngest high-flyers.

MY THOUGHTS -

This is a large gorgeous hard cover book with beautiful pictures. The pictures almost have a whispy quality to them, and the young Amelia is adorable.

First I have to say that I am a huge Amelia Earhart fan from way back! She is one of my heroes. So needless to say I was thrilled to see this book. I liked the story and I read it to the two young girls that I nanny for and they really liked it too!

Unfortunately - this one got VERY mixed reviews! It was mainly due to only one page about Amelia getting a gun for Christmas. Some people thought it was inappropriate. But...

Even though I am not a "gun person" I do have two girlfriends who own guns and love target practice. And I think all that the book was trying to say is that it is OK for a girl to get a gun. Go "girl power"!! And, if you look at the picture, it is a play "pop-gun" not a real gun! So I am OK with it. And that is exactly how I explained it to the girls I was reading it to - that it was just a toy gun and that it is OK for girls to want toy guns too just like boys.

I thought it was a cute story and I really loved the page spread about the real Amelia. You can use that as a teaching tool to show children that she was a real person.

And...it kind of makes me wonder - would they still be not OK with it if it were a boy in the book who got a gun????   Hmmm. Food for thought.

So what are your thoughts? How do you feel about a children's book showing a girl with a toy gun?

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