Airborn – Kenneth Oppel

Author: Kenneth Oppel
Title: Airborn
Publisher: Harper Trophy Canada
Publication Date:2004
Age range: 10 - 16
Genre: Fantasy / Award Winner / Canadian Author / Series Fiction
Rating: 1 2 3 4 5

Plot summary: Matt Cruse was born in the air, and he only feels at home and free while working and sailing in the Aurora, a luxury airship that caters to wealthy travelers and makes long journeys from continent to continent. Matt knows every inch of the Aurora, and is the best possible sort of cabin boy, always ready to do what is needed no matter what the situation. When he rescues a dying hot air balloonist, he unknowingly embarks on a new sort of journey, however, where his life and the Aurora herself are caught up in a fantastic adventure. Kate de Vries is a privileged teenager and the granddaughter of the hot air balloonist, accustomed to getting whatever she wants and determined to understand what her beloved grandfather went through before he died. Before she can find what she's looking for, the Aurora is plundered by deadly air pirates, and damaged seemingly beyond repair. Matt gets caught up in Kate's explorations of the tropical island the ship lands upon, even though his first instinct is to help with the ship's rescue. Filled with unlikely adventure and yet completely realistic emotional drama, this is a wonderful story of soaring beauty and dedication to one's beliefs, taking place in a slightly shifted alternate world much like the one we know, but different in fantastic ways. This book won the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature in 2004.

Comments: Matt Cruse is a great protagonist, and reading about his love for flying and crippling fear of being grounded is enthralling. This book has some other wonderful characters, like the charismatic pirate leader Szpirglas and the snippy but humorous head chef Mr Vlad, for example. With thrilling destinations and a likable main character who shows his feelings very clearly, it is easy to develop a quick connection to Matt and get tied up in his enjoyment of providing great service to the guests on the Aurora, as well as his hopes for promotion and desire to work on the Aurora's sails, maybe even captaining his own ship one day. I find it interesting that the male characters are more believable and fleshed out than the female characters, which may be a reflection of the author's gender. Kate and her chaperone, Miss Simpkins, are less fully developed than Matt, Captain Walken, and the pirate Szpirglas. The male characters seem to get more complexity, while the females stick to stereotypes in a great fashion: Kate is stubborn and willful, Miss Simpkins is hysterical and controlling.

Matt, however, vacillates between his devotion to the Aurora, frustration at being passed over for promotion in favor of a wealthy outsider's son, and the desire to be close to his father, who worked on the Aurora herself until his death. Nowhere else but in the air and on the Aurora can Matt feel the close connection to his father. Matt works hard, and is rewarded for his loyalty, but things don't always go his way, and when he comes up against difficulties, the reader discovers how resourceful and clever Matt really is. I look forward to reading the rest of this series!