Flygirl

Ida Mae Jones dreams of flying. Her father taught her how to fly and soon, she loves it. When her father dies, she keeps on dreaming. When the war hits, her brother enlists leaving her to stay home. She's going stir crazy staying home saving and rationing for the war. Ida Mae wants to make a difference. She thinks it could be her time when she hears about the WASP program (Women's Airforce Service Pilots). She doctors up her father's license to pretend it's hers and dresses in her best clothes. Ida Mae is terrified...because she's black. She knows that although it's a women's program, she's likely to be turned away. Her skin tone is light enough for her to pass as white, so she bites the bullet. Once she arrives at the training camp in Sweetwater Texas, she's scared to death of flunking out of the program, her secret of her skin tone will come out, or that she'll lose her new sense of freedom. Ida Mae relishes in the program. She forms new friendships while she serves her country, but deep down there's still tension in who she is and who she wants to become. Can she overcome all the odds to fly as a WASP?

I really loved this book. It's a topic that fascinated me when I learned about it during a college class: Introduction to Women's Studies. At the time, I wondered why this topic wasn't covered more in the high school class rooms/text books. It's such an inspiring program.
This book deal discusses the value of friendship, bonding in times of stress, the strength of friendship, racial and gender issues, and the deep ties of family. It was a quick engaging wonderful read.

It's been talked about quite a bit, both at the YA YA YAs (where you can read their review and also an interview with the author) and at the Librarian By Day blog.

Two other excellent books on the WASP program are Skies Over Sweetwater (fiction) and Yankee Doodle Gals (nonfiction).