Fly Girl

Fly Girl

By: Sherri L. Smith

Genre: Historic Fiction

Ida Mae Jones is a black 18 year old girl living in New Orleans Louisiana in 1941. She has her job working as a maid. At home she has her Mama, Grandpa, Tomas her older brother, and Able her young adorable brother. Her father died when she was 15, he had a tractor tumble over him and crushed him. But what he was great at was flying! He had his own Jenny airplane and taught Ida Mae how to fly it as well. And once she learnt that is all she wanted to do. She wanted to get her license but the man grading her said she defiantly could, because boy she could fly. But there was only one problem, she was black. As I said before though it is 1941, she is a maid and her dream is to go to Chicago where she knows she can get her license. And a big thing has happened is her brother wants to enlist in the army. He wants to be a doctor to help people. But living in this time is hard because there is war in the world, she is black, and she is a women.

It is now 1943, and one day her little brother Able found an article in the newspaper about WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots. And by them flying it can help bring men home back to their families. If she joins she could live her dream and help bring her brother back home. The only problem is she needs a license and she is black. But she has a plan. First thing is she takes her dads license and changes the name on it and the picture, making it her license. Second her skin is actually not as dark as most blacks, she can almost pass for white, so all she needs to do is look like a white women. So when the day comes her friend Jolene helps her dress up and look white, and of she goes there is no turning back. She waits outside the room where the meeting is. As she waits there is another black girl, Ida Mae  wishes she could talk to her, but she has to act white. When the other black lady is called in, later on she is sent back out but with no smile on her face. Ida Mae says to herself, " Common just act white and be professional, and don't say gonna!" But she passes, and is going to become a WASP.

Ida Mae has made the first step to making her dreams come true, now she just needs to convince her Mama. Yes when her Mama finds out she is absolutely furious but after a while of her mama and grandpa talking about it she is allowed to go. And soon enough Ida Mae is in Texas, Sweetwater. She is on a bus with other girls joining WASP. She meets two girls who soon enough become her best friends, Patsy Kake who is a girl who will make every dull moment exciting when you are with her and a defined dare devil. And Lily Lowstein a kind sweet girl who would not harm a fly.

Training now starts, everyone learns all sorts of things. It is hard it is tough but these girls show what they are made of and they can fly airplanes. They do a lot of training and then it comes to their first test, all the girls pass but some have had to drop out. Around three months of training around christmas time Ida Mae's Mama all of a sudden shows up. She wants to shout I love you so much mama and hug her to death, but she has to act like her mama is her maid. Ida Mae feels absolutly terrible how she has to treat her mother. But she still says I love you and gets to hug her. but her mama came to tell her some important news. Her brother has gone missing, and the army cannot afford to go looking for a black man in the army. She wants Ida Maw to try and help in any way she can. Ida promises to find her brother and help him.

So Ida tells people about him and see if they can help, but it is all she can do, now she can only hope. Also I love this part in the book, its not exactly a quote but it's one part of a conversation that one of the Captains has with another man. Ida and Lily have just finished landing a very hard plane to fly and none of the men can do it, but they sure show them. And because the girls were so happy of what they accomplished they cried and laughed!

"They're hysterical sir," Sparky says. That makes us laugh even harder. Captain Hank, who's had more experience wit hthe hazards of flying and with the hazards of women, merely shakes his head and follows us out of the plane.
"Dames are crazy, Sparky. Don't you ever forget it."
"No, sir," Sparky says seriously. "I won't."

There is much more to this book but that is now for you to find out. i recommend this book to someone who likes reading historic fiction books and loves adventures. This truly is an amazing book. Read this book Fly Girl to find out if Ida Mae's brother will be found? Will people find out she is black? Will she graduate as an official WASP? Read Fly Girl.