Meet young cowgirl Dawn Springfield, an admirer of the WASP—Women Airforce Service Pilots, or Flying Fillies, as she nicknames them. Her love for horses, her country, and the brave female pilots of WWII instill in her newfound confidence to grapple with growing pains.
When the revolutionary WASP initiative is about to take off at Avenger Field, Dawn volunteers to help. Her aunt Georgia is one of the first to sign up as the program aims to train female flyers to relieve male pilots desperately needed in combat missions on the battlefront abroad.
For a young girl whose dreams are as big as Texas, Dawn’s friendship with the WASP gives her something she’s never even dreamed of!
Semi Finalist
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Hui delivers an inspiring plot embedded in a rich historical context, and readers will find the storyline easy to follow as well as refreshing in its unique pairing of two women—one on the cusp of adolescence and one an adult—who mirror each other’s struggles in many ways. The novel gracefully pairs authentic history with sweeping excitement, while the pace beats a steady rhythm until the last page.
Prose: This prose is spot on for the novel’s era, and Hui rolls out true-to-life dialogue naturally, without grandstanding. Scenes are set carefully, with close attention paid to their accuracy, giving the story an appealing framework from the start.
Originality: Hui’s emphasis on female heroes who are both courageous and relatable will resonate with readers—and the pairing of two almost opposite perspectives in many ways lends her protagonists depth and nuance that is lacking in similar novels.
Character Development/Execution: The Flying Fillies triumphs with compelling and animated characters. Dawn’s Aunt Georgia is brimming with moxie and seemingly blasts through danger with no fear, in stark contrast to her niece who is tentatively lapsing into adolescence and fairly unsure of her own capabilities. Dawn’s love of horses is a fitting parallel to Georgia’s love of flying, and the two will easily entertain readers of all ages.
Date Submitted: July 10, 2022
Dawn idolizes her aunt, who is every bit a glamorous 1940s fly girl, and when they meet up at the Texas air base, where Georgia and her squad must prove their abilities to skeptical military men, Dawn gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see history in the making. It’s not all roses for Dawn, though, as she must face the reality of learning to care for and ride a tempestuous filly while being exposed to tragedies that evoke thoughts of her own mortality. Meanwhile, Georgia—confident that she can complete her rigorous WASP training program—realizes the immense opportunity she has to break barriers for women around the world. Hui cleverly contrasts Georgia’s breezy banter and free-spiritedness with the grounded Dawn, who trudges through the mire of early adolescence, eventually gifting each with an appreciation for the other’s worldview.
Hui—who has experience teaching kids to embrace their full potential through her creation of the animated series Xiaolin Showdown—uses Dawn’s love of horses as an apt metaphor for challenging conventions and defying the odds in her choice to nickname her aunt’s crew the “Flying Fillies,” and young readers will pick up on Dawn’s resolve for her own future early on. Determination and perseverance are fundamental themes throughout this historical tale, and readers of every age will be enthralled.
Takeaway: Heroic women take flight in this World War II novel centered on the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Great for fans of: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life; P. O’Connell Pearson’s Fly Girls.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: NA
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: B
