Named to the New York Public Library's Best Books for the Teen Age 2006 As a tomboy growing up in Kansas, Amelia Earhart delighted in
trying new and risky things, once even building a roller-coaster in her
grandparents' backyard. In her 20s she fell in love with flight while
watching an aerobatics exhibition and grew even more enthralled when she
took her first airplane ride.

At age 24 she earned her pilot's wings and 1928 took part in the
transatlantic "Friendship" flight. Her willowy build, wholesome smile, and
tousled blonde hair invited comparison to the celebrated pilot Charles
Lindbergh, and "Lady Lindy" charmed the public with her unassuming manner.

In 1937, Earhart wed publisher George Putnam, who managed her career
and promoted her zealously, ensuring her status as the world's best-known
aviatrix. The next year, she soloed the Atlantic, afterward receiving the
Distinguished Flying Cross and began championing the efforts of women
throughout the world to explore careers -- especially in aviation --
traditionally held by men.Tragically, just days before her fortieth birthday, Earhart, her
navigator Fred Noonan, and their plane vanished en route to tiny Howland
Island in the Pacific Ocean as they neared the end of their round-the-world
journey. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the greatest land and
ocean search ever undertaken but no trace of the missing flyers or their
craft were ever found.

To Amelia Earhart, even the sky was no limit to those with the
courage to test new boundaries.