Earhart

For a community of field mice, the edge of the garden is the edge of the world. One young field mouse refuses to accept that. She is curious about what lies past the burrow and has a gift for engineering, and although flying is forbidden for a mouse like her, she teams up with an experienced mouse aviator and sets off on a bold journey against the wishes of the others.

The story is the latest in Torben Kuhlmann's Mouse Adventures series, and it is inspired by the life of Amelia Earhart. Earhart decided she wanted to be a pilot after watching an airshow, and she went on to break through barriers for women in aviation by becoming the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic. The book wonders whether this little field mouse might have helped spark her career. It pairs Kuhlmann's detailed illustrations with an adventure that encourages young readers to chase their dreams in spite of obstacles.

Nonfiction pages at the back round out the book. They include a biography of Amelia Earhart, an account of her famous final flight and the myths that grew up around it, and a timeline of other successful flights around the world.