Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee

By: Marissa Moss 
Publisher: Tricycle Press 
Publication Date: August 2009 
ISBN: 978-1582462806 
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler 
Review Date: November 2009 

When Maggie Gee was a little girl, she wasn't interested in "baseball games or the movies," and neither was her family. Their Sunday afternoon drive consisted of driving to the local airport to look up into the skies as the planes took off. Maggie's eyes shone with delight, her smile widened and her hair blew off to the side. She clutched her mother's hand in one of hers and her "only-on-Sunday" lollipop in the other. Nothing else mattered because those soaring planes made her "feel big and powerful."

She always looked for Amelia and swore she spotted her once. They waved to one another. Her dreams of being a pilot and her fantastical storytelling about how she would become a pilot and fly the world made her elders chuckle. Her mother told Maggie and her siblings that "Maggie is just telling you stories. Some stories are true, and some are made up. Now, I tell true stories." Hardship stories about life in China were interesting, but for a little girl with big dreams it wasn't enough. One day Maggie "would be able to taste and smell and feel" her stories. When WWII arrived, she was a young woman. Maggie and two girlfriends bought a car and were heading to flight school in Texas. She desperately wanted to be a WASP (Women AirForce Service Pilots) and serve her country. Would she be able to make the grade or would her stories be no more than childish dreams?

This story, told from a first-person perspective, was a delight to read from the first sentence to the last. It was a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a young woman who wanted to emulate the likes of Amelia Earhart from a very young age. The artwork was colorful, sweeping and very appealing. I enjoyed reading, both in the text and in the end notes, about the WASP program during World War II. I always love reading about young women whose indomitable spirits and dreams take them to places few others even dare to go.

Quill says: This story about Maggie Gee is one that you're going to love!