Flygirl

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Why is Ida Mae saving money to go to Chicago?

2. How do Jolene and Ida Mae get home from work?

3. Who taught Ida Mae how to fly planes?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Danny Taylor’s comments about Ida Mae’s appearance make Ida Mae and Jolene both uncomfortable?

2. Why has Ida Mae’s brother Thomas decided to become a doctor?

3. How does Ida Mae’s hope of becoming a pilot get restored? 

Paired Resource

“The First Female African American Pilot”

• This 3-minute video from the Smithsonian Channel discusses the life and legacy of Bessie Coleman, Ida Mae’s hero.
• Ida Mae’s discussion of Bessie Coleman invites students to understand and discuss Racial Identity and Segregation.
• How are Ida Mae and Bessie Coleman similar? What do you think it will take for Ida Mae to pursue her dream?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. Why does Janice Johnson refuse to let Jolene into Stevia’s graduation party?

2. Where does Ida Mae get the outfit she wears to the WASP interview?

3. Why is Ida Mae’s mother initially angry when Ida Mae comes home clearly dressed for passing?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Would the WASPs have let Ida Mae join if they had known she is Black? How do you know?

2. Why has Ida Mae’s paternal grandmother only visited them once?

Paired Resource

“Not White But Not (Entirely) Black: On the Complex History of 'Passing' in America”

• This personal essay on Literary Hub explores how Herb Harris’s grandparents defied racial categorization by passing for white without making it a permanent life choice. Teachers with limited time might choose to excerpt the essay for the most relevant parts.
• This essay will give nuance and context to Ida Mae’s struggles with Racial Identity and Segregation.
• In Chapter 6, Ida Mae’s mother cautions that if she chooses to pass for white, “[Y]ou cross that line, you cannot cross back just as you please.” Still, this essay shows the life of a couple that did cross back and forth over the color line. What risks and sacrifices did it require for the writer’s grandparents to do so? Do you think this is possible for Ida Mae?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. Where does WASP training take place?

2. How do Ida Mae and her family solve the financial challenges of sending her away from home?

3. Why does Nancy refer to Patsy as “a carnie”?

4. What is Ida Mae’s “cover story” about her skin and hair?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Ida Mae worry about her hair on the way to Sweetwater? 

2. Why does Lily Lowenstein have so much luggage?

3. What does Patsy Kake’s interaction with Nancy Howard say about her?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. How do the women show up or get back at instructor Hap Martin?

2. Why is Ida Mae afraid of swimming?

3. Which landmarks does Hap Martin encourage the women to use to map their flights or find their way if lost?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does instructor Hap Martin try to ensure the women “know [their] place in this man’s Army”?

2. Why does Ida Mae feel guilty about cheating the swim test?

3. What is Ida Mae’s first impression of Walt Jenkins?

Paired Resource

“The Weird Thrills That Americans Pursued in the 1920s”

• Most of this 3-minute video from the Smithsonian Channel is dedicated to barnstorming and features historical footage of a woman performing various stunts as part of a performance.
• The narrator highlights some of the Gender Roles and Bias barnstormers faced.
• What does it reveal about Patsy Kake’s character that this was her profession? What kinds of stereotypes and prejudices does she face as a result?

“History of Barnstorming - The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation”

• This 3-and-a-half-minute video on The Henry Ford site explains the history and etymology behind barnstorming. It also features a Curtiss JN-4, “The Jenny” plane that Ida Mae learned to fly on.
• This resource offers a way to connect through discussion to the theme of Gender Roles and Bias in the 1940s.
• Why might this be a profession that mostly attracted female pilots and performers?

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. Why does Patsy Kake’s test take so long?

2. How does Ida Mae spend the night at the Avengerette?

3. Whom does Ida Mae dance with the night she passes basic training? 

4. What new challenge awaits the women in Jenkin’s class?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Ida Mae remain tense while her friends relax and have a fun night out dancing?

2. Why is Ida Mae nervous being alone in town while she goes Christmas shopping?

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. Why does Ida Mae’s mother come to Avenger Field? 

2. What cover story does Ida Mae use to explain why a Black woman came to visit her?

3. How long is the WASP solo flight, their final test before graduation?

4. Why was Patsy so late on her solo flight?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who was the old man from the hardware store?

2. Why does Lily’s wedding invitation make Ida Mae nervous?

Chapters 19-21

Reading Check

1. Who greets Ida Mae at home in Louisiana?

2. What is some of the gossip that has gone around the community about Ida Mae’s disappearance?

3. What is unique about the third base that Lily and Ida Mae visit during their tour as WASPs?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1.  Why do the women at the hair salon assume that Ida Mae is an Army nurse?

2.  According to the characters, what does the youth of soldiers in training reveal about the state of the war effort?

Paired Resource

“Flying on the Homefront: Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)”

• This short article from the National Air and Space Museum gives a brief overview of the WASP program and includes many photos of the women in their uniforms serving and socializing.
• In what ways does the information help you to visualize Ida Mae and Lily at work?

Chapters 22-24

Reading Check

1. Why are Ida Mae and Lily brought in to fly the B-29 bomber?

2. How do the women celebrate their victorious dangerous flight?

3. How does Lily get married?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Ida Mae and Lily feel about being used to fly a deadly experimental plane?

2. Why does Lily have to discontinue her work as a WASP?

Paired Resource

“Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’”

• This page from the National Air and Space Museum serves as a virtual exhibit of the B-29 that was used to drop the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. It is the same plane that Ida Mae and Lily were brought in to test fly during their tour as WASPs.
• This resource connects to the theme of Civic Duty During Wartime.
• How does Ida Mae’s perception of being used as a test pilot conflict with her ideas about civic duty?

“The Bomber Mafia”

• The first in a four-part series, this 40-minute podcast from the Revisionist History episode introduces one of the men who revolutionized the way the US military uses aircraft to fight wars. Host Malcolm Gladwell does not shy away from the ethical implications of such innovations. The series was turned into a full-length book and audiobook presentation.
• The information in this podcast connects to the theme of Civic Duty During Wartime.
• To what extent do personal motivations to fight in wars outweigh moral and ethical concerns about war? Consider the vast landscape of personal motivations people of color and women had for fighting in World War II, the passions of scientists and innovators who created war technology, and those who end up on the other side of those motivations and passions.

Chapter 25-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. Why are Walt and Ida Mae in the same class?

2. Which plane helps win the war?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Ida Mae’s fellow WASPs tell her officers’ training in Florida is just for show?

2. Why does Ida Mae put off Walt’s offers to fly planes for his charter business in California?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Women with Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck

• This 2020 nonfiction title tells the story of the WASP, providing factual details of the same program Flygirl’s main character participated in.
• This nonfiction title doesn’t shy away from discussing similar themes, such as Racial Identity and Segregation and Gender Roles and Bias in the 1940s.

Rebel Spy by Veronica Rossi

• This historical fiction novel is based on the true story of a wealthy woman who ran away from an abusive home, posed as a shipwreck victim, and became a spy for the colonists during the American War of Independence.
• This novel features a woman posing as someone she’s not, who risks her life on behalf of the military effort.