| The following books have been recommended by Girls With Wings or reviewed by Lynda Meeks, the founder of GWW. |
| Learn a little 'bout life on the road as a pilot! |
Powder Puff Derby
One night I crawled into bed, thinking I would try to
read a chapter of Ms Jessen's book before I nodded
off. Well, I ended up reading 3/4 of the way through
her book. I absolutely loved it! It was so well written
that it didn't insult us pilots with explanations of
basic concepts but also didn't confuse non pilots
with aviation lingo. It had a lot of interesting tidbits
of historical information that I had no idea about --
even being a pilot who tries to read often of the
women who came before. It refreshes my belief that
the women who pioneered in aviation were true role
models for us today. We pilots today have it so
"easy" as far as more user friendly technology and a
little more public acceptance (but not completely,
hence the Girls With Wings mission).
One night I crawled into bed, thinking I would try to
read a chapter of Ms Jessen's book before I nodded
off. Well, I ended up reading 3/4 of the way through
her book. I absolutely loved it! It was so well written
that it didn't insult us pilots with explanations of
basic concepts but also didn't confuse non pilots
with aviation lingo. It had a lot of interesting tidbits
of historical information that I had no idea about --
even being a pilot who tries to read often of the
women who came before. It refreshes my belief that
the women who pioneered in aviation were true role
models for us today. We pilots today have it so
"easy" as far as more user friendly technology and a
little more public acceptance (but not completely,
hence the Girls With Wings mission).
Note: Clicking on the links on this page and following them to Amazon means that GWW
will receive a portion of Amazon's profit. Thank you for supporting Girls With Wings.
will receive a portion of Amazon's profit. Thank you for supporting Girls With Wings.
| Clicking on this link will take you to Lulu.com. |
A Novel about a "novel" female airline pilot!
I received the following email and am happy to say I can recommend the
following book told to me by the author. The book is available for download
or hard copy. I loved it, especially all of the airline/airplane references and
especially the nod to Kara Hultgreen, the Navy pilot who perished off of a
carrier a few years back. It does have some mature references and rough
language, just so you know.
An excerpt from the author's (Mike Boyd) email: "Medusa’s Daughter is the
story of Holly MacLaren, a captain for Honolulu-based Mahalo Air Lines.
Before joining Mahalo, she was one of the Navy’s first female F/A-18 pilots—
and she remembers well the sexism that was rampant in the strike-fighter
community of the 1990s. Since leaving the Navy, she has married and
divorced a country music star, become a happy and successful Boeing 737
driver, and handled all the challenges of being a good single mom. So when
she suddenly starts having panic attacks, she’s at a loss to know why, or
how to make them stop.
Holly’s daughter, Skye, sees things other six-year-olds don’t—though she
can’t decipher much of it. The gift gives her a hazy awareness of her mother’
s problem. Soon it will make her a reluctant witness to worse things that lie
over the horizon.
A panic-induced car crash puts Holly’s flying on hold. While she waits for her
physical injuries to heal, she turns to a psychiatrist, Dr. Patrick Henry
Katayama III, to find the cause of the attacks. Regressive hypnotherapy
reveals a number of past lives, each ending in tragedy. In her last
incarnation she was Ensign Robert Dean Strawn, the victim of an unsolved
murder aboard the USS Arizona. The crime took place the night of
December 6, 1941 .
Several weeks after this revelation, Holly’s therapist vanishes, and signs
point to another homicide. Then she finds herself stalked by a wealthy U.S.
Senate candidate—a man with apparent ties to both Ensign Strawn and his
killer! As Holly and Skye struggle first to understand this threat and then to
face it down, their efforts take them on a spiritual journey—and a search for
the truth behind one man’s heroism at Pearl Harbor .
Maybe you could start with just the first two chapters (11 pages).
I received the following email and am happy to say I can recommend the
following book told to me by the author. The book is available for download
or hard copy. I loved it, especially all of the airline/airplane references and
especially the nod to Kara Hultgreen, the Navy pilot who perished off of a
carrier a few years back. It does have some mature references and rough
language, just so you know.
An excerpt from the author's (Mike Boyd) email: "Medusa’s Daughter is the
story of Holly MacLaren, a captain for Honolulu-based Mahalo Air Lines.
Before joining Mahalo, she was one of the Navy’s first female F/A-18 pilots—
and she remembers well the sexism that was rampant in the strike-fighter
community of the 1990s. Since leaving the Navy, she has married and
divorced a country music star, become a happy and successful Boeing 737
driver, and handled all the challenges of being a good single mom. So when
she suddenly starts having panic attacks, she’s at a loss to know why, or
how to make them stop.
Holly’s daughter, Skye, sees things other six-year-olds don’t—though she
can’t decipher much of it. The gift gives her a hazy awareness of her mother’
s problem. Soon it will make her a reluctant witness to worse things that lie
over the horizon.
A panic-induced car crash puts Holly’s flying on hold. While she waits for her
physical injuries to heal, she turns to a psychiatrist, Dr. Patrick Henry
Katayama III, to find the cause of the attacks. Regressive hypnotherapy
reveals a number of past lives, each ending in tragedy. In her last
incarnation she was Ensign Robert Dean Strawn, the victim of an unsolved
murder aboard the USS Arizona. The crime took place the night of
December 6, 1941 .
Several weeks after this revelation, Holly’s therapist vanishes, and signs
point to another homicide. Then she finds herself stalked by a wealthy U.S.
Senate candidate—a man with apparent ties to both Ensign Strawn and his
killer! As Holly and Skye struggle first to understand this threat and then to
face it down, their efforts take them on a spiritual journey—and a search for
the truth behind one man’s heroism at Pearl Harbor .
Maybe you could start with just the first two chapters (11 pages).
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, First Lady of the Air
Kathleen Winters asked me to read her book about Anne Morrow
Lindbergh, First Lady of the Air. I was honored by the request, and am
awed by her thorough research into Anne Lindbergh's role in the Golden
Age of Aviation.
We have heard so much about a few key figures of this time (1920's-30's),
notably Amelia Earhart and Anne's own husband, Charles Lindbergh (Lucky
Lindy), that it's easy to forget all of the other contributors to the
development of aviation as we know it today. The International Organization
of Women Pilots began in 1929 with 99 of the 139 licensed women pilots,
most of whom we've never heard of. Anne was one of the ones who didn't
join, but that shouldn't lessen the impact of her flying career.
Although she believes nothing she did was all that special, I felt an extreme
amount of respect for the trips she so bravely embarked upon. It is
wonderful to read a story that is able to inform about early pilot training,
licensing, navigation, and airplane design with the additional benefit of
Anne's own story, and her quiet and self-effacing contributions to her more
visible husband's success.
She and her husband were key figures in mapping potential airline routes
over uncharted regions of the world, and tales of these trips and the
hardships they endured are riveting. Her husband once responded to a
fellow pilot's criticism of flying with his wife over Northern Canadian routes
by saying, "You must remember that she is crew." Anne, overhearing this,
thinks, "Have I then reached a stage where I am considered on equal
footing with men?" As many female pilots today can affirm, this is the
highest form of praise and is highly valued nearly 80 years later.
Her story proves that we women in aviation "pioneers" are collectively
charged with advancing the knowledge the general public receives (and
benefits from) about women pilots. It wasn't Anne's way to seek the
spotlight, but that doesn't make her achievements less worthy of praise.
Throughout her many adventures, her nagging doubt of her abilities and
contributions, of being able to meet the standard that had been set for
men, led her to find herself and what was most valuable: her family and her
writing. Toward the end of her flying career, she reluctantly agrees to a trip
to Russia to survey its aviation industry, because, as she writes in her
journal, "If nothing else, she thought her children - and all children - may
benefit from seeing their parents take on adventures that proved they
weren't frightened of life." As they say, nothing worth doing is ever easy.
www.kathleenwinters.com
Kathleen Winters asked me to read her book about Anne Morrow
Lindbergh, First Lady of the Air. I was honored by the request, and am
awed by her thorough research into Anne Lindbergh's role in the Golden
Age of Aviation.
We have heard so much about a few key figures of this time (1920's-30's),
notably Amelia Earhart and Anne's own husband, Charles Lindbergh (Lucky
Lindy), that it's easy to forget all of the other contributors to the
development of aviation as we know it today. The International Organization
of Women Pilots began in 1929 with 99 of the 139 licensed women pilots,
most of whom we've never heard of. Anne was one of the ones who didn't
join, but that shouldn't lessen the impact of her flying career.
Although she believes nothing she did was all that special, I felt an extreme
amount of respect for the trips she so bravely embarked upon. It is
wonderful to read a story that is able to inform about early pilot training,
licensing, navigation, and airplane design with the additional benefit of
Anne's own story, and her quiet and self-effacing contributions to her more
visible husband's success.
She and her husband were key figures in mapping potential airline routes
over uncharted regions of the world, and tales of these trips and the
hardships they endured are riveting. Her husband once responded to a
fellow pilot's criticism of flying with his wife over Northern Canadian routes
by saying, "You must remember that she is crew." Anne, overhearing this,
thinks, "Have I then reached a stage where I am considered on equal
footing with men?" As many female pilots today can affirm, this is the
highest form of praise and is highly valued nearly 80 years later.
Her story proves that we women in aviation "pioneers" are collectively
charged with advancing the knowledge the general public receives (and
benefits from) about women pilots. It wasn't Anne's way to seek the
spotlight, but that doesn't make her achievements less worthy of praise.
Throughout her many adventures, her nagging doubt of her abilities and
contributions, of being able to meet the standard that had been set for
men, led her to find herself and what was most valuable: her family and her
writing. Toward the end of her flying career, she reluctantly agrees to a trip
to Russia to survey its aviation industry, because, as she writes in her
journal, "If nothing else, she thought her children - and all children - may
benefit from seeing their parents take on adventures that proved they
weren't frightened of life." As they say, nothing worth doing is ever easy.
www.kathleenwinters.com
High Wide and Frightened
Thanks to GWW, Louise, who recommended this "Recommended Books"
page: "Another thought i had was a place on the biog to say what
books/films inspired women pilots. I tell everyone I ever meet to read High
Wide and Frightened by Louise Thaden as she is my ultimate heroine and i
have a bookshelf with just about everything ever written about female
pilots- especially 1930s-1950s period. I happily loan these out to anyone
who seems remotely interested. I know school libraries don't have a large
selection when it comes to this type of literature but if more young girls
were exposed to these strong female characters and personalities they
would never doubt that they could achieve great things too."
Thanks to GWW, Louise, who recommended this "Recommended Books"
page: "Another thought i had was a place on the biog to say what
books/films inspired women pilots. I tell everyone I ever meet to read High
Wide and Frightened by Louise Thaden as she is my ultimate heroine and i
have a bookshelf with just about everything ever written about female
pilots- especially 1930s-1950s period. I happily loan these out to anyone
who seems remotely interested. I know school libraries don't have a large
selection when it comes to this type of literature but if more young girls
were exposed to these strong female characters and personalities they
would never doubt that they could achieve great things too."
Patterns: Tales of flying... and of life was written by a Girls With Wings
role model, Bette Bach Fineman. Written in a casual story telling style, this
chronicle of a woman's journey toward finding herself is very inspiring.
Broadsided by her husband's betrayal (can you guess who he was?), she
chose to exceed everyone's expectations of what a woman with aviation on
her brain can accomplish. Mind you, she did this as a single mom of six kids!
This is a very pleasant read of a woman who didn't let her circumstances
keep her down. She doesn't dwell on how difficult it must have been to keep
her family fed, just on her willingness to take advantage of opportunities
that came her way, from mechanic to ferry pilot, flight instructor to artist. If
the stories of the amazing flying adventures don't get you, the tales of the
kindness of strangers and friends will. www.bettebachfineman.com
role model, Bette Bach Fineman. Written in a casual story telling style, this
chronicle of a woman's journey toward finding herself is very inspiring.
Broadsided by her husband's betrayal (can you guess who he was?), she
chose to exceed everyone's expectations of what a woman with aviation on
her brain can accomplish. Mind you, she did this as a single mom of six kids!
This is a very pleasant read of a woman who didn't let her circumstances
keep her down. She doesn't dwell on how difficult it must have been to keep
her family fed, just on her willingness to take advantage of opportunities
that came her way, from mechanic to ferry pilot, flight instructor to artist. If
the stories of the amazing flying adventures don't get you, the tales of the
kindness of strangers and friends will. www.bettebachfineman.com
A couple of nights later, again, I thought I would read just a chapter... and
then finished the book. I wrote an email to thank Ms Jessen for all of the
additional information about the women in the book, where they ventured
after the derby, and then to include stories of women in aviation up til now,
and in different fields? This is like a one stop shop for anyone to learn about
(and respect) the influence of women in aviation. I highly recommend this
book.
then finished the book. I wrote an email to thank Ms Jessen for all of the
additional information about the women in the book, where they ventured
after the derby, and then to include stories of women in aviation up til now,
and in different fields? This is like a one stop shop for anyone to learn about
(and respect) the influence of women in aviation. I highly recommend this
book.
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| Girls With Wings™ was formed by Very Important Pilots, LLC |
| Learn a little 'bout life on the road as a pilot! |
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| We use aviation to entertain and educate girls about their limitless opportunities for personal growth. |
©
| A list of books for kids that talk about women in aviation. |
| For more items visit the Amazon store. A portion of their profits (not your cost) benefits the Girls With Wings Project |
| ©2008 Very Important Pilots, LLC. All rights reserved. |
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Flyabout (DVD):
Monika Petrillo has never been a person
to postpone her dreams. So at 24 she
decided to get a pilot's license. A year
later, her father surprised her by learning
to fly as well. As the movie begins, they
take off together to circumnavigate the
continent of Australia. The only pilot of
eleven people, Monika experiences the
true freedom of flight above one of the
most untouched places on earth.
Monika Petrillo has never been a person
to postpone her dreams. So at 24 she
decided to get a pilot's license. A year
later, her father surprised her by learning
to fly as well. As the movie begins, they
take off together to circumnavigate the
continent of Australia. The only pilot of
eleven people, Monika experiences the
true freedom of flight above one of the
most untouched places on earth.
As she becomes exposed to Australian culture, she learns about the
Walkabout, a spiritual journey the Aborigines have valued for tens of
thousands of years. That inspires her to use this trip to take stock of her
own spiritual household. The first step toward that end is to relax. But that
proves much more difficult than she thought: a tight schedule, careful and
constant maintenance of the aircraft, pot-holed dirt runways, mechanical
failures, sudden loss of visibility and unpredictable crosswinds keep her both
too busy and too uptight. But what impacts her most is the conflict that
arises between her father and herself. They had both underestimated the
consequences of her father's limited experience as a pilot, and that quickly
takes its toll; not only on the collaboration in the cockpit, but also on their
relationship. Monika struggles with feelings of responsibility on the one hand
versus doubts about contradicting her father, who has always been her role
model, on the other. As their plane continues its path across the outback,
the young woman slowly comes to realize that personal and spiritual growth
can't be forced. Instead of searching so hard, she starts to look out the
window. And that simple action is the first step towards learning the real
lesson. Flyabout is an intimate, personal story about a pilot's journey
around Australia. It is the story of a young woman growing into an adult
and coming to grips with how generational roles change over time.
www.flyaboutmovie.com
Walkabout, a spiritual journey the Aborigines have valued for tens of
thousands of years. That inspires her to use this trip to take stock of her
own spiritual household. The first step toward that end is to relax. But that
proves much more difficult than she thought: a tight schedule, careful and
constant maintenance of the aircraft, pot-holed dirt runways, mechanical
failures, sudden loss of visibility and unpredictable crosswinds keep her both
too busy and too uptight. But what impacts her most is the conflict that
arises between her father and herself. They had both underestimated the
consequences of her father's limited experience as a pilot, and that quickly
takes its toll; not only on the collaboration in the cockpit, but also on their
relationship. Monika struggles with feelings of responsibility on the one hand
versus doubts about contradicting her father, who has always been her role
model, on the other. As their plane continues its path across the outback,
the young woman slowly comes to realize that personal and spiritual growth
can't be forced. Instead of searching so hard, she starts to look out the
window. And that simple action is the first step towards learning the real
lesson. Flyabout is an intimate, personal story about a pilot's journey
around Australia. It is the story of a young woman growing into an adult
and coming to grips with how generational roles change over time.
www.flyaboutmovie.com
