Beverley Bass, Groundbreaking Pilot Featured in Come From Away, to Pen Children's Book Me and the Sky

Beverley Bass, the trailblazing pilot who appears as a character in David Hein and Irene Sankoff's hit Broadway musical Come From Away, will tell her inspiring story in a new picture-book autobiography titled Me and the Sky, due out this fall. Joanie Stone will provide illustrations for the original from Random House Children's Books, scheduled for publication on September 10.

The book, which takes its title from her character's song in Come From Away, follows Bass, who was a young girl in the 1950s with big dreams of flying planes when she got older. But when she told her parents, they said that girls couldn't be pilots. Still, they encouraged her, and brought her to a nearby airport to watch the planes take off and land.

After decades of refusing to take no for an answer, in 1986 Bass became the first female pilot promoted to captain by American Airlines and led the first all-female-crewed flight shortly thereafter. Her revolutionary career became even more newsworthy when she was forced to land in the remote town of Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to U.S. airspace closures. After several days there, she flew her crew and passengers safely home. Her new book reveals how she went from an ambitious young girl gazing up at the sky to a groundbreaking pilot smiling down from the cockpit.

"The children's book would have never been written had Come From Away not occurred," Bass told Broadway.com. "I am now very proud of the book and hope more than anything that it will not only offer insight to young folks that they really can do anything they want, but that hard work and determination will pay off—and when you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life."

Come From Away, which began its Broadway journey on February 18, 2017, features stage veteran Jenn Colella in a Tony-nominated performance as Bass. The musical continues to play to sold-out houses at the Schoenfeld Theatre.

Me and the Sky is currently available for pre-order.