Ida Mae Jones dreams of flight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn't stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy's gone now, and bei...
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May 11, 2011
The Library Lady
rated it: 
Don't read this because of the blurb on the back by Newbery/Printz teacher's pet Jacqueline Woodson.
Don't read it just because it's a window on a seldom told story of women in WWII. Don't read it just because of the theme of an African American woman trying to pass for white in the segregated world of the 1940s. Don't read it just because you're looking for another "girls can do anything they put their minds to it despite the odds" sort of read.
Read it because More...
Don't read it just because it's a window on a seldom told story of women in WWII. Don't read it just because of the theme of an African American woman trying to pass for white in the segregated world of the 1940s. Don't read it just because you're looking for another "girls can do anything they put their minds to it despite the odds" sort of read.
Read it because More...
Feb 05, 2009
Nancy
rated it:
Young Ida Mae is determined to join the Women's Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. Knowing they won't accept her as a black woman, she decides to pass for white, raising painful issues in her family as her paternal side of the family are all light skinned and won't have anything to do with her family after her father married her mother who was a dark skinned woman. Ida Mae makes good friends in the WASP and does well there, but her secret presses on her everyday. When one of her former
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Jan 19, 2009
Karlan
rated it:
During WWII, women pilots flew support missions for the armed forces in the U.S. The novel explores the life of a girl who passes for white to be able to fly and succeeds. The writing style is calm and surprisingly quiet despite the romance and danger faced by the characters.
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Jan 31, 2012
Cece
rated it: 
Flyyyyyyy Girl! Say what, say what, say what?
Her name is Ida Mae and she's a flygirl,
And she didn't let World War II rock her world!
Flyyyyyyy Girl! Say what, say what, say what?
The title reminded me of the chant I remember from my childhood hopsctoch days.
Her name is Ida Mae and she's a flygirl,
And she didn't let World War II rock her world!
Flyyyyyyy Girl! Say what, say what, say what?
The title reminded me of the chant I remember from my childhood hopsctoch days.
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Oct 17, 2009
Flygirl takes place during World War II and is about Ida Mae Jones (nickname Jonsey), a young African-American woman who wants to fly airplanes more than anything else. But two things are stopping her: her race and her gender. But when she hears about WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots, she is determined to join the program. She is light skinned enough to pass for white, but to keep up the charade she has to pretend not to know her own family and lie to her friends in WASP to keep them from bei
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Jan 26, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com
World War II is raging across the globe and Ida Mae Jones is doing everything she can on the homefront to support the war effort. With her brother, Thomas, off fighting in the Pacific, Ida Mae wants nothing more than to see the boys come home safely.
Donating bacon grease and nylon stockings is not enough. Ida Mae cannot just sit at home when she knows that so many are dying overseas. When she sees an article in the newspaper a More...
World War II is raging across the globe and Ida Mae Jones is doing everything she can on the homefront to support the war effort. With her brother, Thomas, off fighting in the Pacific, Ida Mae wants nothing more than to see the boys come home safely.
Donating bacon grease and nylon stockings is not enough. Ida Mae cannot just sit at home when she knows that so many are dying overseas. When she sees an article in the newspaper a More...
Jan 21, 2012
Patricia
rated it:
On March 10, 2010 the United States Congress awarded over 1000 women the Congressional Medal of Honor for service to their country during WWII. These women were part of the Woman Airforce Service Pilot program, the WASPs. Flygirl is a fictional account of one of them. Ida Mae Jones learned to fly with her Daddy in his crop-duster. She is saving every penny to go to Chicago to test for her pilot’s license. Problem is, because her Daddy died a few years back, Ida Mae’s mother needs her to help sup
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Jan 04, 2012
Busy
rated it: 
Ida Mae Jones has a few secrets. She keeps her love of flying and her desire to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in the United States Army quiet as not to upset her mother. But Ida Mae can't just hang out her family's berry farm washing houses forever, she wants to do something with her life. Unfortunately for a colored woman, even a light-skinned one, there aren't a lot of options for her in 1941. When her brother Thomas leaves medical school to go into the Army to defend the U.S.
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Jun 11, 2011
Squeakycleanreads
rated it:
Overall Review: Set on the brink of the United States' entry into WWII, Flygirl is a rare and intriguing look into both the life of a young, black woman in the south, and the WASP (Women Air Service Pilots). Ida Mae Jones, a housemaid in Louisiana, has her heart set on being a pilot in the air force. When she learns about the WASP, Ida is determined that she will fly. She takes a life-changing risk that she hopes will turn her dream into a reality. Ida Mae is a easy character to love and b
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May 30, 2011
Lj
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 05, 2011
Wendy
rated it:
Ida Mae dreams of getting her pilot's license, but being black and a woman in 1941 she already has two strikes against her when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor forcing her brother to ask her to take care of things at home as he headed off to enlist. Ida holds onto her dream of being a real pilot, and when her younger brother gives her a newspaper article on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) she is determined to become one even at the cost of denying her own heritage to do so.
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Feb 13, 2011
Karen
rated it:
Set during World War II, this is a story of courage, choices, and consequences. Ida Mae Jones has grown up in rural Louisiana on a farm, where her daddy flew a crop dusting plane until his accidental death. He taught her to fly with him, and even though she passed the test Ida Mae was denied a pilot's license because she is black and female. After her brother enlists as an Army medic, and goes to the Pacific to fight, Ida Mae decides to alter her father's license in order to apply for the Wom
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Feb 05, 2011
cecilia
rated it:
I know that I gave FLYGIRL a semi-mediocre rating, but the story just was not my cup of tea. That said, I firmly believe that Ida Mae is a character that I would have appreciated at a much younger age. She possesses a quiet strength that only grows as she comes to terms with how society runs. Yes, Ida Mae may have pretended that her mother was her housekeeper when she visited the training camp. Yes, Ida Mae may have acted "white" to help a fellow African American get a fair trade at th
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Dec 08, 2010
Screenplaydiva
rated it:
FLYGIRL by Sherri L. Smith will lift your spirits and make them take flight.
To me, books are like people. There are bad books, okay books, good books and great books. But then there are books so extraordinary that after you read them, you want to climb to the rooftop and shout to the world -- READ THIS BOOK! Some books are so wonderful, you want to pass them on to family and friends because they make us better people. Such a book is FLYGIRL.
FLYGIRL is an emotional, awe-inspi More...
To me, books are like people. There are bad books, okay books, good books and great books. But then there are books so extraordinary that after you read them, you want to climb to the rooftop and shout to the world -- READ THIS BOOK! Some books are so wonderful, you want to pass them on to family and friends because they make us better people. Such a book is FLYGIRL.
FLYGIRL is an emotional, awe-inspi More...
May 03, 2010
B
rated it:
I LOVED this book. Not only was it well written in a word sense, but the story and the characters... I mean WOW.
Ida Mae is a very light skinned 'good hair'ed black girl living in New Orleans around the time wwII starts. She learned how to fly from her dad and did crop dusting with her grandpa. Through this, she caught the 'flyin bug' and would do practically anything tobe able to fly - even dress as a white girl, deny her family, and risk her life to join WASP.
I loved Ida and was ter More...
Ida Mae is a very light skinned 'good hair'ed black girl living in New Orleans around the time wwII starts. She learned how to fly from her dad and did crop dusting with her grandpa. Through this, she caught the 'flyin bug' and would do practically anything tobe able to fly - even dress as a white girl, deny her family, and risk her life to join WASP.
I loved Ida and was ter More...
Apr 05, 2010
Carol
rated it:
Flygirl is a fictional account of a young light-skinned African American woman in Louisiana in 1941 who decides to pass in order to be accepted into the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Her motivation is two-fold and powerful. She has a deep passion to fly, fueled by memories of flying with her deceased father who taught her how to fly his crop duster; and she desires to help bring her older brother home who enlisted as a medic.The core of this book, which is appropriate for 5th-9th grade
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Feb 13, 2010
Mary
rated it:
This book works in so many completely integrated ways it's hard to separate them out to describe it. It is an enjoyable and compelling read with an interesting character and enough conflict and action to keep the pace moving. It is a coming-of-age book in which Ida Mae Jones, a young, light-skinned, black, woman in 1940s from Louisiana, who loves to fly must figure out who she wants to be and who she is, while she is torn between two different worlds that cannot coexist. It is a historical ficti
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Jan 05, 2010
Mrs. Foley
rated it:
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots. - From library catalog
I really love historical fiction. I didn't know anything about the W.A.S.P. girls! How interesting! Smith does a great job of helping you to feel the struggle with the difficult choices the protagonist must make. I wasn't sure which way I wanted her to go because none of her choices were actually right or fair. I wish More...
I really love historical fiction. I didn't know anything about the W.A.S.P. girls! How interesting! Smith does a great job of helping you to feel the struggle with the difficult choices the protagonist must make. I wasn't sure which way I wanted her to go because none of her choices were actually right or fair. I wish More...
Sep 13, 2009
Tara
rated it:
I have so many good things to say about this book, I don't know where to start... First, I loved the heroine, Ida Mae. Ida is a small town farm girl whose father introduced her to crop dusting at an early age. Ida loves to fly and when America enters World War 2, she gets tired of collecting silk stockings and cleaning houses and decides to join the WASP. Despite her amazing flying abilities, the WASP will turn her away simply because she is half black. Ida's desire to fly and aide her brother o
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Mar 18, 2010
Andre
rated it:
I thoroughly enjoyed Flygirl. It was fast reading, and the author, Sherri L. Smith, does a good job of keeping the pace quick without sacrificing any of Ida Mae's emotion. At no point in the novel does the reader leave Ida Mae's head; as a result, we never lose her perspective. In other first person narratives, there are times when the text is strictly describing action without providing the narrator's feelings on what he/she is witnessing. Smith, however, gives us everything in the context
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Jan 05, 2009
Becky
rated it:
Meet Ida Mae Jones, a young black woman with big, big dreams who won't allow a little thing like prejudice to stand in her way. Set during World War II, Ida Mae's story focuses on her desire to fly. But after Pearl Harbor, even if she had the money and know how, it would be nearly impossible. (She has the know how, but no license. And she certainly doesn't have the money to travel to a place--to an institution of one sort or another--that will give her her flying test and license.) But the dream
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Oct 31, 2011
ambyr
rated it:
This was a compelling story with a believable, sympathetic narrator, but the writing was a little weak. Like too many books I've read lately, it doesn't end so much as just stop. A two-paragraph epilogue in which the narrator says, "And then a couple years later the war ended and they disbanded the WASP" does not a satisfying conclusion make.
Also . . . one of the secondary characters is Jewish, which makes me happy; it's actually kind of rare to find characters who just happe More...
Also . . . one of the secondary characters is Jewish, which makes me happy; it's actually kind of rare to find characters who just happe More...
Oct 07, 2009
Natalie
rated it:
October choice for the Youth Lit Book Club - another meeting I'll have to miss since it's on my Seminar night. :( I'm glad that I still read the book, though.
Generally, I'm not a fan of historical fiction, and I really don't like anything war-related, but this was a fresh perspective, a different side of the war that I had never seen or heard of before. I think this would be a great addition as a choice novel for students studying World War II - especially those who are like me and More...
Generally, I'm not a fan of historical fiction, and I really don't like anything war-related, but this was a fresh perspective, a different side of the war that I had never seen or heard of before. I think this would be a great addition as a choice novel for students studying World War II - especially those who are like me and More...
Jan 14, 2011
Sarah L.
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 11, 2010
Angela
rated it:
This is a wonderful historical fiction about a young, light skinned African American girl named Ida Mae Jones who lived on a strawberry farm in Louisiana. Her father had a crop dusting plane and had taught her fly but she had not been able to get her own pilots license.
The story takes place during World War II era (before women’s liberation & civil rights movement) So Ida Mae is cleaning houses and making plans to go to Chicago, where she hopes she can get her pilots license when the More...
The story takes place during World War II era (before women’s liberation & civil rights movement) So Ida Mae is cleaning houses and making plans to go to Chicago, where she hopes she can get her pilots license when the More...
May 29, 2009
Diana
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 25, 2009
Rhiannon
rated it:
Ida Mae is a black girl in the World War II-era American South whose only dream is to fly. When she hears about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program, she thinks her dreams will come true, until she realizes they only want white women. Ida Mae has always been light-skinned enough to pass as white, and she decides to take that step to achieve her dream.
This was heartbreaking and awesome. It managed to cut through my obscuring layer of white privilege to really show me the More...
This was heartbreaking and awesome. It managed to cut through my obscuring layer of white privilege to really show me the More...
Sep 26, 2010
Minli
rated it:
I really liked Flygirl, but ultimately I wanted it to be more than it was. Ida Mae is a great character and easy to root for--and the situations and struggles she experienced as a double negative (if white male is neutral, then what's Ida Mae to do as an African-American female) and wanting to be a pilot, felt realistic and poignant. Reading about how Ida passed for a white woman during her training, and having to struggle between two, out of several, identities, was wonderfully vivid--especiall
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Jul 03, 2011
Melyssa
rated it:
Ok... It was slow getting into this (but I have a feeling that was because work was crazy this week...) but after I got past the initial schwoop-dee-doos, I really enjoyed this book. Ida Mae is compelling and you really do just feel like cheering her on and telling the United States Army to shove it and make the WASP military. ;) I was so torn up when Patsy died... totally didn't see that one coming. I like the mini love story, but I felt that it needed to have a bit more closure on that front.
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Nov 09, 2010
ALPHAreader
rated it:
Sherri L. Smith’s ‘Flygirl’ is definitely going on my 2010 favourite’s list. I’m also counting it as one of my all-time favourite Young Adult reads. . . heck, it’s a favourite book all round.
The book opens in December 1941, on the day that Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese. Not long after the attack the US army develop the WASP program - Women Airforce Service Pilots. Twenty-year-old Ida Mae Jones dreams of the sky. Her dearly-departed Daddy taught her to fly for crop dusting. . More...
The book opens in December 1941, on the day that Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese. Not long after the attack the US army develop the WASP program - Women Airforce Service Pilots. Twenty-year-old Ida Mae Jones dreams of the sky. Her dearly-departed Daddy taught her to fly for crop dusting. . More...
