Cynthia Klingel - Amelia Earhart: Aviation Pioneer

Published in the United States of America by The Childs World
PO Box 326 Chanhassen, MN 55317-0326 800-599-READ www.childsworld.com

Acknowledgments
The Childs World: Mary Berendes, Publishing Director

Editorial Directions, Inc.: E. Russell Primm, Editorial Director; Pam Rosenberg, Line Editor; Elizabeth K. Martin, Assistant Editor; Olivia
Nellums, Editorial Assistant; Susan Hindman, Copy Editor; Susan Ashley, Halley Gatenby, Proofreaders; Jean Cotterell, Kevin Cunningham,
Peter Garnham, Fact Checkers; Tim Griffin/IndexServ, Indexer; Dawn Friedman, Photo Researcher; Linda S. Koutris, Photo Selector

Photo
Cover: Bettmann/Corbis; Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive/Ames (Iowa) Public Library: 15; AP/Wide World Photos: 23, 25, 27;
Bettmann/Corbis: 2,/14, 21, 22, 26; Corbis: 9, 28; E.O. Hopp/Corbis: 18; Underwood & UnderwoodCorbis: 20; Donald E. Martin,
Atchison, KS: 10, 11; The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University: 6, 7 top and bottom, 8, 12, 13, 17; Hulton
Archive/Getty Images: 19; Purdue University Libraries' Amelia Earhart Special Collections: 16..

Registration
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Copyright 2004 by The Childs World. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klingel, Cynthia Fitterer.
Amelia Earhart: aviation pioneer / by Cynthia Klingel.
p. cm. (Our people)
Includes index.
ISBN 1-59296-000-6 (library bound : alk. paper)
1. Earhart, Amelia, 18971937Juvenile literature. 2. Women air pilotsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. Air pilots
United StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
TL540.E3K54 2004
629.13'092dc21 2003004158

Contents

Chapter O NE

Not an Ordinary Girl

Amelia Earhart lived
in Atchison, Kansas,
when this photo was
taken in 1903.

AMELIA EARHART WILL ALWAYS BE KNOWN AS
one of Americas most famous pilots. She
lived at a time when airplane flight
was becoming possible. People
were fascinated with the pilots
who dared to risk their lives
in the air.

Amelia was born in
Atchison, Kansas, on July
24, 1897. Her father,
Edwin Stanton Earhart,
was a lawyer. Her
mother, Amy Otis
Earhart, was from a
wealthy family. Amelias
grandfather, Alfred Otis, was
a judge and president of the

Atchison Savings Bank. Amelia was
born in his large white house on
Quality Hill.

At this time in the United
States, girls were expected to wear
dresses, learn to cook and sew, and
behave in a quiet, mannerly way.
Most girls werent encouraged to look for
adventure. But Amelias mother and father
loved adventure. In fact, Amelias mother was
the first woman to climb Pikes Peak, a moun
tain in Colorado. They raised Amelia and her
sister, Muriel, in a different way. Amelia and
Muriel wore bloomersa type of pants
instead of dresses.
They went fishing
and built things
with their grand
fathers tools.

Amy Otis Earhart and
Edwin Stanton Earhart were
Amelia Earharts parents.

Amelia and her sister
Muriel on the front porch
of their home

One time,
Amelia saw a
roller coaster and
decided to build
one in their back
yard. When she
was ten years old,

her father gave her a gun to shoot the rats in
the barn. She rode bicycles and flew down
snowy hills on a sled that only boys usually
rode. She liked mechanical things and once
built a trap to catch stray chickens.

Amelia and Muriel
liked to play
outdoors and try
different activities.

Most other girls did not even try to do
the things that boys did. But Amelia grew up
believing that
girls could
accomplish the
same things as
boys. She often
cut out magazine
articles about
careers that most
people thought
were just for boys.

Amelia,
Muriel, and their
mother spent a
lot of time living
with Amelias
grandparents in
Atchison. Mr.
Earharts work
involved a lot of

travel. In 1905, he took a job in Des Moines,
Iowa. The girls stayed in Atchison and lived
with their grandparents. Three years later,
the girls joined their parents in Des Moines.
Amelias father was becoming very successful.
Then he began having trouble. He suffered
from alcoholism . Life for the family was
not happy. In 1914, he lost his job. The
family moved many times, including to St.
Paul, Minnesota, and then Springfield,
Missouri, but Mr. Earhart could not get a
job. Finally, Mrs. Earhart took the girls and
went to Chicago.

Amelia Earhart spent much
of her childhood living in
Atchison, Kansas, with her
mother and grandparents.

Interesting Fact

Amelia was named
Amelia Mary Earhart.
She was named for her
grandmothers, Amelia
Otis and Mary Earhart.

Amelias Birthplace and Childhood Home

T HE A MELIA E ARHART B IRTHPLACE M USEUM IS LOCATED IN A TCHISON , K ANSAS .
The museum is actually the former home of Amelias grandparents, Judge Alfred
Otis and Amelia Otis. This is where Amelia Earhart was born. Although her
family lived in several places, Amelia considered Atchison to be her hometown.
She spent many of her childhood years in her grandparents home. In 1971, it
was added to the National Register of Historic Sites.

The house was built by her grandparents in the 1860s. They lived there
until their deaths. From 1912 until 1956, two different families lived in the
house. In 1956, it was sold to Paul and Winney Allingham. The Allinghams had
no children. In 1984, after their deaths, the house was for sale.