Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton

K-Gr 2--This book has a terrific message for young girls about breaking barriers; unfortunately, essential information about Skelton is missing or incorrect. According to McCarthy, "At the age of twelve her father boosted her up, plopped her into a plane, and waved good-bye. Betty was flying by herself!" McCarthy notes that Skelton studied information she had requested from aircraft manufacturers (using the ruse of helping her dad buy a plane), but that obviously wasn't enough to qualify her to fly solo. The lack of a reference to the training she received from Ensign Kenneth Wright will leave young readers to think otherwise. McCarthy claims NASA blocked Skelton from flying with the Mercury 7, but she was never officially considered for inclusion on the crew. Skelton knew the invitation to undergo astronaut endurance tests was a publicity stunt, but McCarthy writes, "Previously only animals had gone into outer space. No man-or woman-had yet done so. This was Betty's chance!" In spirit, McCarthy's profile of Skelton is exciting, fun, and inspirational. However, like the trailblazing daredevil's planes and cars and boats, it speeds right past important facts as though they would detract from an amazing life when they most certainly wouldn't. McCarthy's familiar round-eyed renderings of her characters are endearing as always, and her palette, set in ample white space, is cheerful. But what could have been a great introduction to a fascinating thrill seeker sadly sacrifices accuracy for stylistic embellishment, and the resulting errors are too significant to overlook.--Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR

McCarthy has made a career out of picture-book biographies of unexpected subjects, and this thoroughly inspiring portrait of Betty June Skelton (1926-2011) reveals a woman who embodies a "need for speed." Direct quotations from Skelton fill her story with personality. She was obsessed with flying from an early age, and she made the newspapers for a solo flight on her 16th birthday--never mind that her father had already plopped her into a cockpit four years earlier. "It wasn't quite legal then so I couldn't tell anybody," she recalled. Skelton went on to break records on land, sea, and air, and she even had a shot at becoming the first woman in space. In McCarthy's succinct prose and wide-eyed acrylic cartooning, Skelton comes through as a woman eager to break barriers and try anything. Ages 4-8. (June)