This book chronicles Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to go solo in a hot air balloon. She was one of the first female aeronauts. Little is known of her life before marrying Jean Pierre Blanchard, a famous aerialist of the time. This is a great beginning look at woman who dared to do what many thought only men could do. Finding out that Sophie died so young, due to a fire and a fall from her balloon, is heartbreaking but also real. The illustrations are lovely and give an old-world field to match the old world setting of the book. ( )

In eighteenth-century France, all the great ballooning aeronauts are men. This beautifully illustrated biography tells the inspiring story of Sophie Blanchard’s rise from a shy, rural village girl to an extraordinary woman who was appointed Chief Air Minister of Ballooning by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Includes Author’s Note, Illustrator’s Note, Bibliography

This book for readers five and over, subtitled “Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot,” tells the story for kids of Sophie Armant Blanchard, born in 1778, and the first woman to work as a professional balloonist. Later, in 1819 at age 41, she became the first women to be killed in an aviation accident.

When balloonists first took to the skies in 1783, Sophie longed to join them. She read everything about the most famous of the balloonists, daredevil Jean-Pierre Blanchard. When she finally met him, he asked her, “Do you like the balloons, mademoiselle?” She replied, “I belong in one, m’sieur.” He was entranced, and before long, they were married.

Jean-Pierre took Sophie up with him in balloons, and after flying twice with him, she decided to go up alone.

According to Smithsonian Magazine:

“Early manned flights in the late 18th century led to ‘balloonomania’ throughout Europe, as more than 100,000 spectators would gather in fields and city rooftops to witness the pioneers of human flight. And much of the talk turned to the French aeronaut Sophie Blanchard.”

After recovering from Blanchard’s death in 1809 (he suffered a heart attack and fell from his balloon, dying later from his injuries), Sophie decided to return to the skies, flying solo. People came by the thousands to see her ballooning shows. She became famous, known as “the bird woman.” Emperor Napoleon named her Aeronaut of the Official Festivals, as well as Chief Air Minister of Ballooning.

The author ends by remarking:

“The old world, the one she now soared above, had fought for so long to put limits on women. Yes, Sophie said to herself, with a smile. There is a limit. And that limit is the sky.”

The story ends with an Author’s Note, in which Smith tells how Sophie died in a ballooning accident. During an exhibition over the Tivoli Gardens in Paris, Sophie launched fireworks that ignited the gas in her balloon. Her craft crashed on the roof of a house and she fell to her death. Smith writes, “For me, Sophie’s spectacular accomplishments will always rise above her tragic end.”

In an Illustrator’s Note, the wonderful Matt Tavares describes his research for his ink and watercolor art for this book, and how he used the colors of the sky to help tell Sophie’s story. Finally there is a Selected Bibliography.

Evaluation: This book focuses more on Sophie’s ballooning than on her life, but as the author notes, there is much more known about the former than the latter. Tavares’s art work makes perusing this book worthwhile. ( )

This book tells the story of a Sophia Blanchard, the first woman to pilot a hot air balloon. I did not think it offered a lot of scientific content, but I did find it to be an interesting part of scientific history that we don't hear a lot about. This book has beautiful, water color illustrations and is well written. Students will see that pursuing a dream, however unrealistic it might seem to others, is important. There is no need to limit your dreams; just keep persevering! This would be a great book to read when discussing density, gravity and flight. Typically, when we think of human flight, we tend to think of planes, so this is a good book to introduce how radical ballooning was during this time. ( )

This picture book biography covers the life of Sophie Blanchard, a person never noted in the 'big picture' history books. Blanchard was married to a famous balloonist in France, and later herself became the first female balloon pilot, paving the way for future female aviators. With hot air balloons being a novelty rarely seen these days, the distinction might be a bit lost on child readers, but the author does try to explain in the main text and in a concluding note just how daring and important an accomplishment this was. The illustrations are quite lovely and add to the moods of the text. ( )