Amelia Lost!

Title: Amelia Lost--The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
Author: Candace Fleming
Publication Date: February 2011
ISBN 13: 978-0375841989

A new look at the life and disappearance of the preeminent female flier, Amelia Earhart.  With chapters that alternate between her life and childhood, and gripping chapters that tell of her loss at sea, Fleming succeeds in creating a page-turning book that is at once compelling and informational.  The multitude of photographs, original notes from journal pages, and sidebar information explaining instruments, inventions, and Amelia's relationships, makes this book even more interesting and easy to digest. 

The life of Amelia Earhart has become so shrouded in myth and legend that Fleming's realistic look at her faults and downfall really bring home the loss that was her disappearance by humanizing her in a way I've never experienced (this is admittedly the first A.E. biography I've read).  A must-read book for everyone!

Shipwrecked: the True Adventures of a Japanese Boy

Title: Shipwrecked! The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy
Author: Rhoda Blumberg
Publication Date: January 2003
ISBN 13: 978-0756914417

I decided to read this book because the cover image intrigued me after the terrible tsunami that hit Japan this March.  And even though the book didn't have anything to do with that kind of natural disaster, I still learned a lot about Japan and Japanese customs and traditions.

This biography details the life of Manjiro, a young boy who is shipwrecked on a deserted island off of the coast of Japan in 1841.  He and his friends become the first Japanese people to set foot on American soil and he eventually earns many honors and privileges through his attitude and ability to learn.
In the 1840s Japan was an isolated empire.  There were strict rules preventing Japanese people from exposure to any foreign idea.  The isolationist policies in place required that any Japanese person who came in contact with anyone from another nation should be executed rather than corrupt other Japanese people.  The Japanese people were kept completely ignorant to life in the rest of the world.  There was also a very strict caste system in place which prevented people from rising in station.  Those that were born fisherman had to remain fisherman without any hope of moving up.

That Manjiro was not executed after returning to Japan 12 years after being rescued by an American whaling ship, and that he was elevated from lowly fisherman to noble samurai, testifies to his resilience and intelligence.  His first hand knowledge of American advancements and of customs from around the world made him an invaluable consultant to the king and, ultimately, contributed to the end of Japan's isolation.

The Story of Sarah Edmonds--A Civil War Hero

Title: Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds A Civil War Hero

Author: Marissa Moss

Publication Date: March 2011

ISBN 13: 978-0810997356

This illustrated biography of Civil War hero Sarah Edmonds, the first and only woman to be recognized by the United States government as a veteran of the war, tells an amazing and important story of freedom.  Sarah Edmonds chose to live her life as a man in order to avoid an unseemly marraige.  Freed from the constraints imposed on women at the time, she chose to enlist in the Union army under the assumed identity of Frank Thompson where she held a number of important positions including nurse, spy, soldier, and even assistant to an important General and Postmaster.  Keeping her true identity secret to the end, Sarah Edmonds served her country well!