Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today by Perogies & Gyoza.

My selection is "The Daring Miss Quimby" written by Suzanne George Whitaker and illustrated by Catherine Stock.

Ask people to name a famous female pilot and chances are Amelia Earhart will be the name they offer.  But what about Harriet Quimby?  Born in 1875, some twenty years before Earhart, Harriet was the first American woman to receive a pilot's license and on April 16, 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.  Sadly, the sinking of the Titanic the previous day had captured the world's attention and her feat went largely unnoticed. Though flying captured her heart, she was also a theater critic published in New York and a screenwriter for Hollywood silent films.

Whitaker's narrative paints a colorful picture of this multi-talented woman who captured the public's imagination in her purple flying suit and became a familiar face in product endorsements during her short life.

Stock's illustrations convey the unquenchable energy of this daring pioneer.