I bought this book at a charity shop in my neighbouring city of Kitchener. I can see that it was once the property of a Mr. Clubine, probably part of a classroom library from the looks of things.

I have never seen this book before, but I am interested to read it. I've loved planes since I was a kid. A couple of years ago, my husband started learning to fly, and earlier this year we rediscovered a long-lost relative who served in the RCAF and died during the Second World War, so my interest in aviation has been growing and being more fully explored of late.

In celebration of Canada's sesquicentennial this year, I have dedicated my bookcrossing activity to the reading and sharing of Canadian stories. I am excited to include this CLA Book of the Year for Children-- the first copy registered on bookcrossing-- in my Canada 150 project!

I finished up this book this morning; once I got around to starting it, it was a quick read. I found the writing kind of spell-binding, I am not surprised that this book won the CLA Book of the Year for Children Award.

I did notice a couple of errors that sort of nagged at me, but all in all I enjoyed the reading experience, which always makes it easier to look beyond mistakes or inconsistencies. The one that bothered me most was a little switching of words that makes a big difference (to history, if not to the storyline)-- Beryl Markham was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from EAST to WEST, not from WEST to EAST. Like I said, it's not a big deal to the story... but since it's a real person's real achievement, it bothered me that the book didn't get it right.

Anyhow, I found the book quite enjoyable. I'm glad that I read it. This fictional young girl's quest to fly made me want to help my husband get back up in the air (it's been quite a while since he flew, now), and it reminded me of one of my very early memories-- hearing a WW2 Lancaster, V-RA, fly again for the first time after her restoration, on 24 September 1988. I was pretty tiny-- I'd turned 2 in May of that year-- but it was a big moment. To this day, I love the feeling I get in my chest when I hear the unmistakable sound of a Lanc, and I feel lucky to live in an area where I can see and hear V-RA.

I'm not sure just yet when/where I will leave this book, it's something to think about a little bit... but I hope to pass it along fairly soon.

While we were out in the Hamilton region today, my husband and I stopped to read the Ontario Historical Plaque in front of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (home of Lancaster V-RA) in Mount Hope. The plaque is about Canada's first licenced female pilot, Eileen Vollick, so it seemed the perfect place to leave this book. I left the book in a protective bag, tied around the sign's post.

If you've found this book, thanks for picking it up and checking out its journal! If you're new to bookcrossing, welcome. We'd love it if you'd stick around with us a while. I really hope that you enjoy both this book and the whole bookcrossing experience!

This book was released as part of the 2017 "52 Towns in 52 Weeks" Release Challenge. I've finished my 52 but I've kept on going-- Mount Hope was Town #68 for me!