Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee [Hardcover]

Marissa Moss (Author), Carl Angel (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2009 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

When I was little, something special happened every Sunday. Other families went to baseball games or the movies, but not mine . . . We went to watch the airplanes. . . .

Maggie dreamed of flying--just like her favorite pilot, Amelia Earhart. She told her brothers and sisters stories of flying across oceans and deserts, and all around the world. But in the 1920s and 1930s, few girls took to the sky.

Then, when Maggie grew up, her whole world changed overnight: the United States entered World War II, and everyone in her family was affected. Maggie knew that this was the time to support her country--and it was her chance to fly. Young Maggie Gee became one of only two Chinese American Women Airforce Service Pilots to serve in WWII.

Based on the true adventures of a girl not bound by gravity, Marissa Moss's stirring story and Carl Angel's brilliant illustrations depict what determination, bravery, and boundless possibilities look like when dreams are allowed to soar sky high.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1–4—This biographical picture book, based on the life of a Chinese-American pilot, has a first-person narrative. Gee describes her love of airplanes as a small child and of sharing with her siblings her dreams of someday flying over places such as the Eiffel Tower and the pyramids. Several years later, when World War II started, she learned about the Women Airforce Service Pilots and knew that she wanted to join them. After attending flight school, she was one of the few chosen to train as a WASP. The work was "hard and tiring and wonderful, all at once" and Gee soon earned her wings. She flew several missions, some of which were fun (training exercises were "like playing tag in the air") and some of which were frightening. Rendered in acrylics and colored pencil, the colorful double-page illustrations are filled with detail and vibrantly depict the settings and events. An author's note provides more information along with photographs of Gee and her family members. This story should serve as inspiration for children that they can achieve whatever they put their minds to.—Donna Atmur, Los Angeles Public Library END

Review

Starred Review, Booklist:
"There are a number of biographies of women pilots, and a few books about Women Airforce Pilots (WASP), including a novel for older readers, Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl (2009). This particularly well-crafted picture book for middle grades comes to the subject through Maggie Gee, a young girl with a dream....Based on interviews with Gee, this has a lovely, personal feel to it."

Review, Publishers Weekly:
"A triumphant story of determination."

Review, San Francisco Chronicle:
"The acrylic and colored-pencil art warmly emphasizes changing skies and layers of story, especially those about the lofty goals and indomitable grit that characterize Gee's life."

Review, Kirkus Reviews:
"An inspirational tale of an inspirational woman.

Review, School Library Journal:
"Rendered in acrylics and colored pencil, the colorful double-page illustrations are filled with detail and vibrantly depict the settings and events… This story should serve as inspiration for children that they can achieve whatever they put their minds to."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Tricycle Press (September 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582462801
• ISBN-13: 978-1582462806
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 0.4 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Children's Books > Transportation > Aviation

More About the Author

Marissa Moss has been telling stories and drawing pictures to go with them for as long as she can remember. She sent her first book to publishers when she was nine, but it wasn't very good and it never got published. She didn't try again until she was a grown-up, but since then she hasn't stopped.

The idea for the first Amelia's Notebook came from the notebook Moss kept when she was a kid. Amelia is a lot like her and the things that happen to Amelia really happened to Marissa (mostly).

Along with Amelia, Moss has created many characters and is especially drawn to history. Historical books allows her to imagine what it's like to be alive in a different place at a completely different time. And then there are the Max Disaster books which allow her to play with scientific experiments, inventions, and comic strips.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children, August 11, 2009

By 

Yana V. Rodgers "econkids.rutgers.edu" (New Brunswick, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee (Hardcover)

As she grew up in the San Francisco Bay area during the 1930s, Maggie Gee frequently heard her mother and grandmother tell stories about their own lives back in China. Maggie enjoyed hearing these stories, but they felt so distant, and she longed to make her own stories about becoming a pilot come true some day. The opportunity came sooner than expected when the United States entered World War II. While Maggie's mom joined millions of other women who took on factory jobs to help support the war effort, Maggie entered flight school to gain qualification for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Through WASP, Maggie became one of just two Chinese-American women to serve their country during WWII as military pilots.

With its unique content, bold illustrations, and informative author's note, Sky High makes a valuable contribution to the literature. This interesting book shines the spotlight on a little-known person in U.S. history who sent the powerful message that ethnic minority women could break the race and gender barrier and succeed in occupations traditionally reserved for white men.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a young Chinese-American girl who wanted to emulate Amelia Earhart!, November 15, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee (Hardcover)

When Maggie Gee was a little girl, she wasn't interested in "baseball games or the movies," and neither was her family. Their Sunday afternoon drive consisted of driving to the local airport to look up into the skies as the planes took off. Maggie's eyes shone with delight, her smile widened and her hair blew off to the side. She clutched her mother's hand in one of hers and her "only-on-Sunday" lollipop in the other. Nothing else mattered because those soaring planes made her "feel big and powerful."

She always looked for Amelia and swore she spotted her once. They waved to one another. Her dreams of being a pilot and her fantastical storytelling about how she would become a pilot and fly the world made her elders chuckle. Her mother told Maggie and her siblings that "Maggie is just telling you stories. Some stories are true, and some are made up. Now, I tell true stories." Hardship stories about life in China were interesting, but for a little girl with big dreams it wasn't enough. One day she "would be able to taste and smell and feel" her stories. When WWII arrived, she was a young woman. Maggie and two girlfriends bought a car and were heading to flight school in Texas. She desperately wanted to be a WASP and serve her country. Would she be able to make the grade or would her stories be no more than childish dreams?

This story, told from a first-person perspective, was a delight to read from the first sentence to the last. It was a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a young woman who wanted to emulate the likes of Amelia Earhart from a very young age. The artwork was colorful, sweeping and very appealing. I enjoyed reading, both in the text and in the end notes, about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. I always love reading about young women whose indomitable spirits and dreams take them to places few others even dare to go. This story about Maggie Gee is one of those, one that you're going to love!

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous biographical picturebook, August 18, 2011

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee (Hardcover)

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"Sky High: The True Story Of Maggie Gee"
Written by Marissa Moss
Illustrated by Carl Angel
(Tricycle Press, 2009)
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This is a marvelous biographical picturebook telling the story of Maggie Gee, a young Chinese-American student who dropped her studies and enlisted in World War Two, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. She became as member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and worked as a flight instructor until the WASPs were disbanded in 1944. Her story is told as a low-key, matter-of-fact first-person narrative, allowing readers to fill in the blanks regarding the social setting and the significance of Ms. Gee's determination and accomplishments. (Racial discrimination is touched on lightly in a scene where a fellow pilot mistakes Ms. Gee for an enemy spy -- she just walked up, said "hi" and shook his hand.) A brief appendix outlines her postwar accomplishments - among other things, she returned to her studies and became a physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs.) Her story is a marvelous inspiration for Asian-American and female readers, as well as anyone interested in aviation pioneers - highly recommended, particularly for classroom use. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain children's book reviews, 08-11)