early reviews
The Adventures of Rubi Pi and the Aviation Girls: History of Flight in Stories
Fly along with Ruby, Sarra, Isoke and other young heroines as they take to the skies to save their families.
Nine scenarios, nine heroines, nine lessons in flight.
Gia travels from Manhattan’s Lower East Side to the Aleutian Islands to capture one of the most mysterious warplanes of all time – the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
Young Yi-Tai Jo falls in love with the homely, misunderstood X-1 rocket jet. Heartbroken at X’s failure to break the speed of sound, she may have a solution.
One morning, bratty Anke has a bitter spat with her sister, Romy. Yet when Romy is kidnapped, Anke is the one who can save her – using an old war-kite to glide to the villain’s tower. Can she navigate gliding through the Black Forest and save Romy?
Ship-salvager’s daughter Sarra defies a garrison to save Father from Rome’s wrath. Can her home-made balloon win the day?
Author and Teacher Tom Durwood offers a collection of nine stories to challenge young readers.
For young adults and readers of all ages. With historical commentary by aviation scholars Tim Grove, Anne Millbrook, Michael Quetting and others.
A fun and creative book! Marvelously inviting …
— Professor Cameron Smith,
author ‘The Fact of Evolution’ (Penguin Random House)
This is clever, creative, and credible writing at its finest.
For historical fiction lovers who are looking for stories outside the traditional battles-and-kingdom conspiracies, this book delivers a refreshing experience.
Unexpected … Brims with rich history
Each of the nine narratives gives us glimpses of local cuisines, cultures, and social bonds.
Tom's delightful stories in The Aviation Girls span ancient ideas about flight through the Golden Age of aviation to the age of Rocketry.
— Anne Millbrooke,
author of the award-winning “Aviation History”
Highly original … distinctive ... ingrained with the love of flight
The Aviation Girls
by Tom Durwood | Book Review
by Saby Samar, Goodreads reviewer
Short Synopsis:
Nine ambitious young-adult adventures set in the history of aviation.
My Review:
After blending mathematics and geometry with history in his previous two books of the Ruby Pi adventure series, Tom Durwood has done it again… this time it is history and aviation. On the scaffolds of fiction, Tom shatters the myth that the history of aviation began with the Wright brothers. Durwood’s writing traces it back to the 7th century…to the kingdoms of Rome and Greece.
The stories in this enterprising and highly original collection of juvenile solo flights include girls in helium ballons and girls on advanced electro-magnetic rockets, set across many distinctive timelines, from ancient to future.
Readers will meet some daring and adventurous girls who confront their personal struggles with loss, grief, and adversity with hope and resilience and depth of character. All nine stories affirm the belief that the nature of manned flight is tied to the human need to rise, in all ways.
The first story spotlights the flight of another species. It tells of a group of birds displaying their best efforts to save a baby monkey caught in a storm, in the hunting grounds of a panther. We meet Starling, Condor, Scarlet Tanger…a cluster of birds. Which of them will save that desperate little monkey? It all depends on the quality of their flight.
The nature of flight is tied to the human need to rise, in all ways.
The second story of the collection introduces two sisters, quite opposite in nature, in 17th century Germany. The girl Anke embarks on a manned flight in a rickety wooden war-kite prototype to save her siter. Anke’s aspirations to touch the sky lead her to plunge earthward into the Black Forest …
“Gravity it is what pulls you back down when you rise from sitting. Things fall to the floor.”
The third story ‘Kites’ is staged against the backdrop of Qing-dynasty China, as the Kingdom is beset by foreign powers. Kites are a vital part of the culture, used to transport messages from one province to another. This story deals with messages of many different kinds.
The history of flight is incomplete without acknowledging the feats of brave men and women who piloted the early (always improving) wild flying jets in aerial warfare of the two world wars. Tom’s combat-plane story is quite long, and is written with a feel of war fiction. Japan’s Zero fighter plane was causing havoc on the US forces. Gia Tomasso, a young girl struggling with her late father’s debts, volunteers for a mission to capture a Zero. But for that they need at least one plane, and it needs to be shot down by the US pilots. This story reveals the psychology that ran high in Japan’s side — they believed in destroying the plane by an act of suicide to avoid their technology being leaked to enemies. This revelation turns out to be startling, but also heartbreaking.
Lighter-than-air gases like helium and hydrogen have played pivotal roles in balloon flights. The story Salvage tells of Sarra, who mesmerizes readers with her discovery of helium as the key to successful manned flight. She assembles water pontoons to help her father’s ship-salvage business, then goes against the Roman Imperial legions in order to save her family.
Tom’s unexpected Murder on Moon Colony Saraswati story takes place in the near future. A Russian spy is found dead in the space colony’s gardens, which stirs investigation to uncover the motive and cause. Speculations are quickly upended by the realities of corruption and rebellion on the colony.
We are reunited with Ruby Pi, the heroine of Math Girls and Geometry Girls, in the 7th story. A famous insurance company (Lloyds of London) hires Ruby to study aircraft designs for an air show to assess risk. Shadowy forces stalk the event, and it is only Ruby’s insight and timely intervention which saves London from a deadly accident.
“Aviation Girls” offers readers a gripping narrative through stories of young women and their quest to conquer the skies and explore intricacies of aerodynamics, flight designs, and much more. Loaded with fun and wit and close descriptions, Tom’s tales sometimes chug ahead purely on dialogue. His unique narrative approach sets a distinctive tone for this remarkable book.
Tom’s historical exploration of awe-inspiring girl aviators moves easily across timelines. The shuttling through eras and nations is smooth. Each of the nine narratives gives us glimpses infused with local cuisines, cultures, and social bonds (and limitations). Surely, this is clever, creative, and credible writing at its finest.
From the earliest airplane prototypes to the future’s electro-magnetic sleds, the collection is ingrained with the love of flight — with girls leading the way. For historical fiction lovers who are looking for stories outside the traditional battles-and-kingdom conspiracies, this book delivers a refreshing experience.
An educator who makes learning fun.
Rich with characters …Durwood never loses sight of telling a good story.
Multifaceted stories. I appreciated the author’s investment in his characters …
– Laura Richardson, NetGalley reviewer
Early Review of “Aviation Girls”
by Laura Richardson, NetGalley reviewer
This compilation of captivating short stories with science, technology, engineering and mathematics intricately weaved throughout means the reader does not realise they are learning while they enjoy the stories.
If the knowledge and facts throughout these stories were presented in a non-fiction book they would not be as interesting to read, and the reading may feel laborious and boring. The clever way these facts are delivered to the reader by way of a work of fiction is an ingenious way for the reader to learn more and to find the subjects interesting.
Wholeheartedly encouraging girls to remain learning in STEM subjects, the female protagonists are smart, capable and brave. There are also fine examples of male characters not tolerating sexism and calling it out when they see it which is so refreshing to read and sets a great example for young readers.
The way these facts are delivered to the reader by way of a work of fiction is ingenious …
The female leads were involved in flying aircraft, showing these dreams are within reach to girls- they were inspiring, astute and brave. They were determined to prove themselves capable to do more than just make a home and they showed great strength and leadership.
The beautiful, vivid descriptions create a world you can imagine you are in. The atmosphere created by the author enables you to almost hear the storm in the first story which was my favourite of the compilation. The stormy weather and violent thunderclaps gave a real sense of foreboding and built up the suspense for the rest of the story.
Interestingly, there are snippets of many other languages throughout the stories and the translations are shrewdly given in the character’s replies. There is a rich combination of education throughout. I particularly enjoyed seeing how useful maths had been during the war; after swearing I would never need it again after school it was great to see examples of when it can be important.
I appreciated the investment in the characters, nobody was there that didn’t need to be-they all carried the story to where it needed to go. The characters were believable and relatable. I enjoyed reading the way some characters spoke i.e. when they stuttered or spoke very quickly, it was easy to understand how they would sound and made me feel more immersed in the story.
Some of these multifaceted stories are told from lesser-known perspectives from real stories from history. This gives the audience a more well-rounded view and compassion for people and perspectives they were previously unaware of. The traditions and customs depicted show a sense of community, belonging and feeling a part of something giving readers a better understanding so they can develop a respect for these traditions.
Refreshing to read … a rich combination of education and adventure.
Books like these with inspirational role models remind girls and women that we are capable of doing anything we set our minds to. We can achieve remarkable things.