Night Flight:Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic

Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic

Written by Robert Burleigh

Paintings by Wendell Minor

Night Flight, written by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Wendell Minor, is the terrifying and inspirational tale of Amelia Earhart’s transatlantic journey May 20-21,^,1932.

Overall, the combination of the author’s awesome descriptive words and the illustrator’s gorgeous paintings create a stunning picture book that captivates from the start. Every sentence is rich and exhilarating, and it feels like the words Burleigh uses could control our emotions and sweep us away at any second! For example, he invokes terror when he states, “Rivers of quicksilver darkness drown the moon. The wooden Vega wobbles on invisible hills of air. Lightning scribbles its zigzag warning across the sky: DANGER”. He also uses short sentences occasionally for emphasis, such as “It is Ireland,” when Earhart finally reaches land. It touches on deep concepts, such as death, danger, fear, loneliness, and desperation that younger audiences (K-3) may not be able to grasp very well. The author uses some complex words that would also be very difficult at an early level. Depending on students’ prior knowledge, a teacher reading aloud might have to stop and explain some hard words to the students; if the students are too young to understand a majority of these words, the comprehension and value of the story may be lost. If the teacher only has to explain a few words, the students can still appreciate the story.

But any audience will enjoy the magnificent watercolor illustrations in this book. Every painting, from the construction of the plane, to the hairs on Earhart’s head or the sparkle in her eyes, to the crashing waters of the Atlantic, is precise. The illustrator uses a variety of painting techniques to display what he wants to portray: pointillism for the gravel and grassy hills that Earhart leaves behind in Newfoundland as she soars into the great unknown, softer watercolor strokes for the wispy night clouds, small frantic strokes for the wrinkly ocean, and even some splattering for the crashing lightning storm. Minor does a wonderful job of incorporating Earhart’s emotion into his paintings. For example, when it first turns to night, the text reads, “Her mind soars. She loves what she likes to call ‘first-time things.’ She remembers roller coasters, bicycles, barebacked horses.” On this page, the artist uses watercolors to create a shimmering night in all shades of blue, laced with white specks for stars. This painting instills wonderment and mystery and is conducive to Earhart’s connection of her childhood memories to her unpredictable future ahead. If we aren’t mesmerized by the front cover, we certainly are taken by the map we see when we open the front cover. It integrates geography and history into the text by charting Earhart’s course from Newfoundland to Ireland, pointing out the distance she traveled and start and stop times. It also models the Vega plane she used and gives the statistics of the plane’s construction, which is such interesting information for kids! Although there are lots of picture books out there on Amelia Earhart, I feel like this one is different because it focuses less on her journey during which she disappeared, and more on her courage and triumphs against adversity during her successful voyage.

Official Amelia Earhart Biography site:

http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html