DOROTHY THE BRAVE

A North Carolina farm girl becomes a World War II pilot.

Teenage Dorothy Lucas leaves her childhood home for Washington, D.C., to live with her aunt and uncle and attend high school. After Pearl Harbor is attacked and her brothers enlist, Dorothy, now a young woman, wonders what she can do for the war effort. She becomes a clerk at the Pentagon but wants to contribute more by doing something important and brave. When she learns about a recruitment plan for the new Women Airforce Service Pilots program, she’s intrigued, and though the young White woman didn’t have the privileged upbringing of other female pilots (“Many others who had proven themselves were daughters of wealth”), with a loan from her mother, she completes a training program, is accepted by WASP, and goes through more training in Texas before finally being assigned her own airplane transport missions. This is a straightforward, inspiring story of independence, determination, and courage despite risk, accompanied by soft gouache, watercolor, and colored pencil illustrations. A lengthy author’s note, which includes black-and-white photos of Dorothy and her fellow pilots, provides more explanation of Dorothy’s career and the development of the WASP program. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A stirring account of a resolute woman who soared.