PART 3: Reading and Questions

Directions: Read the text and answer the questions.

Amelia Earhart
by Barrett Smith

[1] Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous pilots in the world. She was the first Paragraph 1
woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to fly across the Pacific 1. What is the main idea of this
Ocean. She also set a number of records for speed and distance in flying. During a section?
time when women were not always encouraged to take physical risks or pursue
A. Amelia Earhart is famous for
dangerous careers, Earhart’s life and accomplishments proved that women could be
being the first pilot to fly over
just as talented as men.
the North Pole.
Early Life B. Amelia Earhart is famous for
designing some of the earliest
[2] Amelia Earhart was born on July 24,1897, in Atchinson, Kansas. She grew up living planes.
with her grandparents and her mother. Her mother didn’t believe in raising “nice
little girls” and let both of her daughters wear pants at a time when this was C. Amelia Earhart is famous for
considered very unusual. Earhart liked adventure and would often climb trees in her being a record-breaking pilot.
grandparents’ neighborhood. She was very fond of sledding, which she said felt like D. Amelia Earhart is famous for
flying. When she was ten, Amelia’s parents moved to Des Moines, Iowa, for her advocating for pilot safety.
father’s job with the Rock Island Railroad, while Amelia and her sister remained with
their grandparents in Kansas. Over the course of her young life, Amelia and her
family moved around a lot because her father had trouble finding and keeping jobs. Paragraphs 2 - 3
Although Amelia loved reading, science, and sports, it was hard for her to make
friends and do well in school. 2. The main idea of this section is that
Amelia Earhart was unconventional
[3] In high school, Amelia dreamed of having a career. She kept a book filled with because she did not act like most girls
newspaper and magazine clippings about women who were successful in jobs that at that time.
were usually reserved for men, such as lawyers, engineers, and movie directors.
After high school, Amelia went to visit her sister in Toronto, Canada. While there, she
saw soldiers returning home from World War I. Many of them were wounded. The What are two details that support that
sight inspired her to volunteer as a nurse’s aide with the Red Cross.1 Amelia began to main idea?
study medicine at Columbia University, but quit a year later to be with her parents,
who had relocated to California.
________________________________
Learning to Fly
________________________________
[4] Amelia Earhart traced her interest in flying to an experience she had at an ________________________________
airshow in Canada. She was watching a flying exhibition when the plane took a dive
and flew right past her. Amelia said “that little red airplane said something to me as ________________________________
it swished by.” In 1920, Earhart visited an airfield in Long Beach, California, with her ________________________________
father, who paid $10 for Amelia to take a flight with a pilot named Frank Hawks. The
flight only lasted ten minutes but it made her determined to learn to fly. ________________________________
________________________________
[5] Over the next year, she worked a variety of jobs and saved enough money to start
taking flying lessons. Earhart took flying very seriously. She read all of the books she ________________________________
could find about it and spent a lot of time practicing at the airfield. Despite her
________________________________
dedication, she was worried about what the more experienced aviators2 would think

1
an international organization that cares for the wounded, sick, and homeless in wartime
2
another term for “a pilot”

Identifying Main Ideas: Amelia Earhart 2

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of her. She slept in her leather pilot’s jacket for three nights so that it would look Paragraphs 4 - 7
more worn in, and she would look less like an amateur.3
3. Complete the sentence starter in the
[6] Six months later, Earhart bought a bright yellow plane she nicknamed “The space below: In this section, I learned
Canary.” The next year she flew the Canary to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting the that Earhart was a determined person
world record for female pilots. In 1923, Earhart got her pilot’s license. She was only because…
the 16th woman to be issued one by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, an
international ministry of aviation.
________________________________
[7] In 1924, Earhart and her family fell on tough times financially -- the money from ________________________________
her grandparents’ inheritance had run out. Earhart realized she couldn’t make
money flying any time soon and decided to sell her plane. She worked as a teacher ________________________________
and social worker until 1927, when she re-entered the world of flying. Having settled ________________________________
in the Boston area, she became a member of the American Aeronautical Society's
Boston chapter and invested some money in Dennison Airport, a small airport in ________________________________
Massachusetts. She flew the first official flight out of that airport. To support herself ________________________________
and stay connected to the aviation community, Earhart began to work selling
airplanes and wrote in newspapers to promote flying. ________________________________
________________________________
First Woman to Cross the Atlantic
________________________________
[8] After Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
in 1927, people started talking about a woman doing the same. In April 1928, several
sponsors who were aware of Earhart’s growing reputation called to ask her if she
would like to fly across the Atlantic. She agreed, but they thought it was too
dangerous for a woman to fly alone. This venture was also complicated by the fact
that Earhart had also not been trained to fly the type of plane they would be using.
Ultimately, Earhart rode as a passenger with pilot Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and
co-pilot/mechanic Louis E. "Slim" Gordon. When they landed in the United Kingdom,
Earhart received an enthusiastic welcome. However, Earhart said she felt she "was
just baggage, like a sack of potatoes” and hoped to one day complete the flight on
her own. Paragraphs 8 - 10

[9] In 1932, Earhart decided to try to cross the Atlantic Ocean again, this time on her 4. What was Amelia Earhart’s
own. She set off from Newfoundland, an island off the eastern coast of Canada. She reputation as a pilot? What is one
intended to fly to Paris like Charles Lindbergh had done five years earlier. Because of detail that supports your answer?
the weather and mechanical problems, Earhart could not make it all the way to Paris.
Instead, she landed in a pasture in Derry, Ireland. Still, Earhart won many awards for
being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, including the Distinguished ________________________________
Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor ________________________________
from the French Government. Earhart started to become famous across the United
States. ________________________________
________________________________
Setting Records
________________________________
[10] Amelia Earhart continued flying and set seven speed and distance records for
women. In 1935, she became the first person to make the transoceanic flight from ________________________________
Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California. She was also the first person to fly from Los ________________________________
Angeles to Mexico City and from Mexico City all the way to New York. She broke the
record at the time for the longest non-stop flight. By 1935, Earhart started to ________________________________
consider a flight around the world. ________________________________

3
Amateur (noun): a person who is new to, or not yet advanced in, a particular skill

Identifying Main Ideas: Amelia Earhart 3

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Circumnavigating the World

[11] Amelia Earhart was not the first person to fly around, or circumnavigate, the Paragraphs 11 - 12
globe. But she planned on being the first person to do this by following the path of
the equator4 -- a route that was longer and harder than any flight that had come 5. What is the main idea of this
before. The university where she worked, Purdue University, helped her purchase a section?
custom-built plane with an extra large fuel tank. She gathered Captain Harry
Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz to be her crew. They planned to take off
Complete the sentence starter in the
from Oakland, California, and fly to Hawaii. From there, they would fly across the
space below: In this section, I learned
Pacific Ocean to Australia. Then they would cross India, Africa, and the Atlantic
that…
Ocean on a path to Florida and finally to California. On their first attempt in March
1937, however, the plane was severely damaged in Hawaii and had to be sent back
to the continental United States5 for repairs. The repairs took so long that by the
________________________________
time they were done the weather and wind patterns had changed. This meant that
Earhart and her team had to reverse their plan and fly east. ________________________________

[12] On their second attempt in June 1937, only Earhart and Noonan would be flying ________________________________
this eastward route around the globe. They flew from Oakland to Florida and then ________________________________
took off from Miami, Florida. They flew 22,000 miles across South America, Africa,
India, and Southeast Asia until they finally landed in Lea, New Guinea. They now had ________________________________
to cross another 7,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean. They planned to fly to Howland ________________________________
Island, a tiny island between Australia and Hawaii. From there, they would make
their way to Hawaii and California. Finding Howland Island would be difficult as it ________________________________
was only about 500 meters wide. Earhart and Noonan planned on communicating ________________________________
with members of the United States Coast Guard stationed on the island to help them
navigate. ________________________________

Disappearance

[13] In what became one of the greatest mysteries of a generation, Earhart and
Noonan disappeared on their journey between New Guinea and Howland Island.
Evidence suggests that they had trouble communicating with the Coast Guard Paragraphs 13 - 15
because radio signals were very poor. The weather also made it hard to use celestial6
6. What is the main idea of this
navigation, and their maps and charts were off by about six miles. In radio
section?
communications, it appeared that Earhart and Noonan believed they were flying
over Howland Island, but the Coast Guard could not find them and eventually lost
contact. The Coast Guard began a search that lasted weeks and cost millions of
________________________________
dollars, but they were never found.
________________________________
[14] Many theories remain about what led to Earhart’s and Noonan’s disappearance.
Based on historical evidence, two of these theories are considered by experts to be ________________________________
the most realistic. One credible theory is that they ran out of fuel off the coast of ________________________________
Howland Island and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Researchers believe that the
plane was not fully fueled and would not have made it to the island even in perfect ________________________________
conditions. ________________________________
[15] Another theory that has recently gained credibility is that they landed on nearby ________________________________
Gardner Island. Earhart and Noonan could have realized that they couldn’t make it to
________________________________
Howland Island and started searching for other islands to land on. This theory
emerged in 1940 when construction workers found a skull on Garner Island. ________________________________
Scientists say the skull belonged to a white woman. Researchers have also found bits

4
an imaginary line drawn around the Earth equally distant from both poles at 0° latitude, dividing the earth into the northern and southern hemisphere
5
the land of the United States within the North American continent, not including Alaska and Hawaii or other United States territories
6
relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy

Identifying Main Ideas: Amelia Earhart 4

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of clothing, pieces of aluminum, and plexiglass that seem to have come from the
airplane, and a jar of freckle cream believed to have belonged to Earhart.

Legacy

[16] Amelia Earhart’s life remains a focus of mystery and admiration. Her daring
pursuit of her goals inspired a generation of female aviators and has made her an
enduring figure in popular culture. Her disappearance is still the subject of research
and speculation. Earhart is commemorated7 in numerous books about her life,
especially as a role model for young girls, and has earned her place as one of the
most intriguing figures of the 20th century.

"Amelia Earhart" by Barrett Smith. Copyright © 2017 by CommonLit, Inc. This text is licensed
under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

7
Commemorate (verb): to recall and show respect for someone or something

Identifying Main Ideas: Amelia Earhart 5

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.