Listening to Louise
How does a young person choose who to idolize? It isn't easy.
Margie Davis is a fifteen year old girl. The year is 1937 and Margie is fascinated by the female pioneers of air flight. She especially idolizes Louise Perry who, a day earlier, took off from California to become the first woman to solo across the Pacific.
It is Saturday morning. Margie’s Mom is out shopping and her dad is away on a business trip. Margie is supposed to be doing homework but when she turns on her father’s short wave radio, she catches what seems to be a distress call from Louise Perry. Margie grabs a school essay book and begins to write. If what she is recording is true, Louise has crashed landed on an uncharted island in the middle of the ocean.
Margie enlists the help of her friend Kenny, a self-styled “freak.” and radio buff. They first have to prove that the unlikely transmission is not a cruel hoax. Then, somehow they must convince the Navy, now searching over open water, that the key to finding Louise Perry alive rests in the scrawled notes in a teenagers tattered notebook.
With the help of J.T., a young, African American, newspaper writer and Admiral Whitaker, an aging flyer and radio operator, Margie and Kenny make their way though a maze of facts and falsehoods until the shocking story of Louise’s flight and failure is revealed. Although the quest does not end as expected, Kenny gains a new pride in his bookish nature and Margie learns valuable lessons about truth, competition, and how to choose a role model.
2M, 4 F. One Hour
It is Saturday morning. Margie’s Mom is out shopping and her dad is away on a business trip. Margie is supposed to be doing homework but when she turns on her father’s short wave radio, she catches what seems to be a distress call from Louise Perry. Margie grabs a school essay book and begins to write. If what she is recording is true, Louise has crashed landed on an uncharted island in the middle of the ocean.
Margie enlists the help of her friend Kenny, a self-styled “freak.” and radio buff. They first have to prove that the unlikely transmission is not a cruel hoax. Then, somehow they must convince the Navy, now searching over open water, that the key to finding Louise Perry alive rests in the scrawled notes in a teenagers tattered notebook.
With the help of J.T., a young, African American, newspaper writer and Admiral Whitaker, an aging flyer and radio operator, Margie and Kenny make their way though a maze of facts and falsehoods until the shocking story of Louise’s flight and failure is revealed. Although the quest does not end as expected, Kenny gains a new pride in his bookish nature and Margie learns valuable lessons about truth, competition, and how to choose a role model.
2M, 4 F. One Hour