Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

[torachan]

Title: Flygirl
Author: Sherri L. Smith
Number of Pages: 275 pages
Book Number/Goal: 50/75 for 2009
My Rating: 5/5

Ida Mae's dad taught her how to fly in the plane he used for cropdusting, but being both black and female, it's not easy for her to get her pilot's license. While she's saving up the money she earns cleaning houses to go to the one school she knows licenses both women and blacks, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and suddenly they're in the middle of a war. When her little brother shows her a newspaper article about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), she knows she has to join...even if it means passing for white.

I really liked this book a lot. I read it in two days, which is quick for me, but it was really hard to put down! I love that Smith really doesn't pull any punches. Passing allows Ida Mae to do what she loves, but it changes her forever. The scene where her mom visits her during her training was especially tough to read.

There are several other reviews here.


Mooch from BookMooch.

Strong Poison - Book Review

[amanda_in_pajamas]

Title: Strong Poison
Author: Dorothy L Sayers
Number of Pages: 272
Genre: Fiction
Book Number/Goal: 51/75 in 2009

Review: This was a paperback bookclub selection. While I hadn't read any of the Wimsey novels before, I do fondly remember the character from PBS' Mystery! Our bookclub theme this quarter was 'food', so this was an excellent selection. It is the 5th book in the series, but the first with Harriet Vane.

I find Wimsey's character to be very witty. He's quite clever, and it's fun to follow him around town as he does his "thing". I'd almost dare to compare him to the likes of Det. Goren on Law & Order: CI. (He's not quite that 'weird' but there are definitely parallels there.) The book is a very light read. It's not really a page turner, which actually worked out well so that I could pick it up and read for only a few minutes as I had time throughout the day. (I save the page-turners for at night after my 3-year old goes to bed.)

An Introduction to Children's Literature by Peter Hunt

[shanaqui]

Title: An Introduction to Children's Literature.
Author: Peter Hunt.
Number of Pages: 241.
Genre: Non-fiction (litcrit).
Book Number/Goal: 5/20. List here.

Review: Here.

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

[torachan]

Title: The First Part Last
Author: Angela Johnson
Number of Pages: 132 pages
Book Number/Goal: 51/75 for 2009
My Rating: 4/5

Sixteen-year-old Bobby is living with his mom, trying to finish up high school, and raising his baby daughter by himself. With chapters alternating between "now" and "then", this tells the story of how Bobby ended up a single parent and what happens after.

This was well-written and enjoyable, though I thought having Nia end up a vegetable in a nursing home was a little over the top. It's nice to see a book about a teen father (and a black teen father at that), and I liked that even though Bobby's parents were divorced, his dad was still in the picture and he even goes to live with his dad near the end. His older brother is also shown being an active parent to his own kids.


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