Short Form (All Genres)

Your Name: Lizeth Reyes

Title: Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Illustrator: Brian Selznick Publisher/Year: Scholastic 1999

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summarize the content of the book –

A. For Fiction Form Genres—Explain the characters, the setting, theme and plot of the
book.
The main characters in the story are Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. They are respected
woman who were friends. The setting took place in the White House having dinner with other friends.
They were talking and commented that Eleanor got her license to drive and got a new car. Eleanor
asked Amelia how it felt to fly at night. She explained to her that it is wonderful to see the beautiful
lights. They were both convinced that they wanted to go that night. They went after dinner and right
before dessert. Amelia and Eleanor still had their gowns on and they flew around the sky like that.
After flying, reporters were waiting for them and asked the first last how it felt to have a woman as a
pilot. She said she felt safe and that she will fly soon too. Going back to the White House, Eleanor and
Amelia ditch the party, and go to Eleanor's new car. Eleanor with her gloves still on, turned on her car
and went for a ride with her good friend Amelia right before dessert. They got back and finally ate
dessert with their other friends. The theme for this story are: follow your dreams (Eleanor always
knew what she wanted and worked on it), friendship (the two friends were having fun with each
other, and did not care that they were being judged for doing "men" hobbies.
Explain how the book appeals to children, their interests, developmental levels, fun
illustrations etc. Give specific examples from the book:
This book appeals to children by showing that girls can fly a plane. They can also drive if they want
too. This may be in the past, but girls are still being put down for trying to be a mechanic or into the
army. The president was included in this book, but the readers will be interested more in how the two
ladies had fun driving and flying. In the book, the secret services were telling Eleanor that they do not
recommend them going out for a plane ride, but Eleanor stood up to them and said that they will do
it, and that they will be fine. The illustrations were not colorful compared to other books, but the
texture and shape showed a lot of details that the children will like and keep reading. At a young age,
children feel that they cannot fail, nor disappoint their parents, but this book shows that they should
not rely on anybody's opinion to do what they want to do. They did not care that they were doing
masculine activities, yet they still did that.
Rate the book 3

Explain your rating.

I like this story a lot because it shows how interested they were in things that ladies were not
allowed to do. They were supposed to be in love with baking, cleaning, and being a wife. The
book showed a lot of woman power, and I encourage and am interested how Eleanor and
Amelia stood up to the man in this story. Everybody was questioning them for their interests
in driving and flying a plane. Yet, these best friends were doing what they wanted to do.
Nobody restricted them from it, and I like that. Everybody should be encouraged to do what
they want, without any regrets. As an adult, I noticed that girls are still being restricted to do
things, and we are still fighting for equality, but that does not mean that we should give up.
These two ladies are great leaders, and this story proved that we can do what we want.