LET'S FLY!

The first Black pilot to solo circumnavigate the world tells his story.

Irving, born in Jamaica, moves to Miami at age 6, and the “badgering” about his clothes and speech that he endures as an outsider just makes him resolve to aim high. That goal initially means football—until a stranger walks into his parents’ bookstore and asks if he’s ever thought about becoming a pilot. Captain Gary Robinson, who is also Black, takes him under his wing and into a cockpit, giving him a lesson with a flight instructor when Irving turns 16. Irving earns money for more lessons, works hard, and obtains his pilot’s license. Then Captain Robinson poses a challenge to the 21-year-old Irving: Pay it forward and help someone else. Irving starts an after-school STEM program, then envisions a landmark goal: a solo flight around the world. His initial efforts to find support are discouraging; it takes two years to get a plane, another year to plan. Despite doubts, Irving takes off in 2007 before, 26 stops and 97 days later, eventually returning to Miami. One full-page illustration is devoted to the riskiest flight segment; a map traces the whole route. The art is colorful and uncluttered but detailed, with labels for cockpit instruments and levers, as well as many parts of a turbo-prop. Though details of the flights are few, the writing channels the aviator’s conversational voice, and the narrative arc is uplifting.

An attractive condensed account that will put the wind under readers’ wings.