Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in her grandparent's house. She was named Amelia Mary after her two grandmothers. Three years later her sister, Muriel, was born.

Edwin, her father, had a job as a claims agent for railroads and was away from home frequently. Amy, Amelia's mother, went with him on some of the longer trips, so Amelia and Muriel stayed with their grandparents during the school year.

Amelia and Muriel went to a private school. Amelia was very athletic, thin, and was a tomboy. Her parents thought anything unusual was educational, so she played sports and read boks meant for boys.

Amelia was very imaginative and always invented things. She invented chicken traps because her neighbor's chickens ran away all the time. Also, she built a roller coaster after seeing one at a fair.

In her childhood, Amelia loved books. She loved the book Black Beauty and despised the abusive adults that made Beauty and Ginger suffer. Her love of horses added to her hatred.

In the summer of 1908, Edwin took his family to the Iowa state fair for Amelia's eleventh birthday. This is when Amelia saw her first airplane. Amelia was not impressed "It was a thing of rust and wood and not at all interesting..." ,she wrote.

Amelia's father took a big role in her life. He would play a hero in his stories he told to her and her friends. Unfortunately, Edwin had a drinking problem. After a while, Edwin went to the hospital to get help and was cured of his drinking problem. As a result of his drinking, Edwin lost his job and the family moved again, to St. Paul, Minnesota. Edwin got a job as a clerk in a freight office.

Edwin started drinking again, and one night, it nearly cost him his life. He stepped out, into the path of a car and got hit. Luckily, he didn't die.After he recovered from the accident he got a job in a claims office in Springfield, Missouri. When they got there, they found out that the employee Edward was going to replace didn't have to leave after all. At that point, Amy had become fed up with Edwin and went to live in Chicago with Amelia and Muriel.