Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

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Airborn
Available from Amazon
Price: $45.00
Updated on 12-20-2008.

Features

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Audio CD: 10 pages

Publisher: Full Cast Audio; Unabridged edition (July 30, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1933322535

ISBN-13: 978-1933322537

Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces ()

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10–An original and imaginative Victorian-era fantasy. Matt, 15, only feels alive when he's aloft working as a cabin boy aboard the Aurora,a luxury airship that is part dirigible, part passenger cruise ship. When wealthy Kate and her chaperone come aboard, Matt soon discovers that she is determined to prove her grandfather's claims that he saw strange creatures flying in the sky in that area the year before. The man's diary describes them as huge, furry beasts with batlike wings and sharp claws. Soon after Kate arrives, pirates attack the ship and rob the wealthy passengers. A storm forces the damaged Aurora to set down on a seemingly deserted island. Kate and Matt discover the skeletal remains of one of the creatures, and, later, a live but deformed one that lives among the treetops. In their attempts to photograph "the cloud cat," they stumble upon the pirates' hideout and are captured. Can they escape in time to stop the brigands from stealing the Aurora? Will Kate prove the existence of this undiscovered species? This rousing adventure has something for everyone: appealing and enterprising characters, nasty villains, and a little romance. Oppel provides glimpses of the social conventions of the era, humorous byplay between the main characters, and comic relief in the form of Matt's cabin mate and Kate's straitlaced chaperone. Reminiscent of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines (HarperCollins, 2003), this adventure is much lighter in tone and has a lower body count.–Sharon Rawlins, Piscataway Public Library, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-8. Matt Cruse is a cabin boy aboard the luxury passenger airship Aurora when the ship encounters a battered hot air balloon with an unconscious man aboard. Before dying, the man claims to have seen beautiful creatures swarming in the air over an uncharted island. Not until a year later, when Matt meets the man's granddaughter, Kate de Vries, who boards the Aurora, does he learn that the man wasn't hallucinating. Pirates board, rob, and kill, and a fierce storm grounds the Aurora on the very island that Kate's grandfather spoke about--which proves to be the pirates' secret hideaway. Though readers will need to suspend disbelief of the mysterious flying creatures, which Matt and Kate call "cloud cats," details of life and work aboard the ship as well as the dramatic escapade itself make this a captivating read. Sally Estes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Airborn (Library Binding) Matt Cruse is a cabin boy aboard the giant airship Aurora, one of the many dirigibles that cruise the world, in this world-that-might-have-been. But, when he helps in the rescue of a runaway hot air balloon, he finds the dying pilot ranting about beautiful flying creatures. Little does Matt realize that this is the start of a grand adventure that will take him halfway around the world, up against storms and pirates, and on to the end of his rainbow! My thirteen-year-old daughter gave me this book, and I must admit that I did not know what to expect. Now, the book does start out rather slow, and the first third might leave you wondering if this is really the book for you. But, don't give up on this book, its well worth your time! I think it is correct to compare this book to the works of Robert Louis Stevenson; the author does an excellent job of creating an entirely new world, where airships cruise the skies and airplanes were never invented, where men wear top hats and women wear hats with feathers and flowers. I enjoyed the radical setting, the characters, and the plot which became quite gripping all the way to the end. So, if you are interested in an exciting read, one that harkens back to a different day and age, then this book is for you!

Airborn
List Price: $45.00
Available from Amazon
Price: $45.00
Updated on 12-20-2008.