Girls Fly! - Hardcover

When Charlene grows up, her dream is to be a pilot and fly airplanes. Charlene's brothers, however, have a different idea: they actually believe that girls aren't big enough, or strong enough, to fly airplanes! It's up to Charlene to set the record straight and educate her mixed-up brothers about the prominence and influence of women on the magnificent development of flight.

As Charlene puts it, her brothers don't have a clue. She describes to them the courageous Leila Marie Cody, who actually flew in a kite years before the Wright brothers created their plane; Bessie Coleman, who traveled to France to become the first African-American licensed to fly an airplane; and the daring Betty Skelton, who performed aerobatic tricks at airshows across the country.

But the presence of women in aeronautics doesn't stop there! Charlene continues with descriptions of women astronauts, shuttle commanders, balloon pilots, and commercial-airline pilots that wow her brothers and teach them one important lesson: girls can be anything they want to be.

Bringing extensive experience in historical research, writing, and creative design to their work, Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly are partners in a firm that produces permanent as well as traveling museum exhibitions. A licensed pilot, Reilly has flown both fixed-wing aircraft and hot-air balloons. They have also written Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen, Tuskegee Airmen: American Heroes, for young adults, and The Tuskegee Airmen Story, a picture book. All are published by Pelican.

Illustrator Rosalie M. Shepherd is a landscape and portrait painter who works with oil, charcoal, and watercolor and has worked extensively as a graphic designer. This is her third book with Homan and Reilly. She also illustrated Clarence Thomas: Fighter with Words, also published by Pelican and written by the late David R. Collins.