Taking Off: Airborne with Mary Wilkins Ellis

In early 20th-century Britain, Mary Wilkins Ellis (1917–2018) talks her father into letting her ride in an airplane even though she’s only eight, and she subsequently earns her pilot’s license as a young adult. As WWII continues, women aren’t allowed to join the RAF, but English manufacturers begin to build “hundreds of new kinds of warplanes” that desperately need civilian pilots: “Mary let out a whoop. She had a license. She could apply.” Delicate, softly tinted pen, ink, and watercolor spreads by Caldecott Medalist McCully make Mary’s work seem as calm as the green fields she passes over as she ferries aircraft large and small to RAF bases. Even close calls, as when an engine cuts out in midair, convey steadiness in a picture book about women pilots, all portrayed as white, who were able to do what they loved most in an era when not many women’s dreams were fulfilled. Back matter and references are included. Ages 6–8. (Feb.)