Airborn: A Printz Honor Winner - Softcover

Oppel, Kenneth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060531827 ISBN 13: 9780060531829

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005

Synopsis

Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow's nest, being the ship's eyes. We were two nights out of Sydney, and there'd been no weather to speak of so far. I was keeping watch on a dark stack of nimbus clouds off to the northwest, but we were leaving it far behind, and it looked to be smooth going all the way back to Lionsgate City. Like riding a cloud. . . .

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

About this title

About the Author:

KENNETH OPPEL wrote his first novel at age fourteen and hasn’t looked back. His books include the Silverwing series, which has sold over a million copies around the world; Airborn, winner of a Governor General’s Award and the Michael L. Printz Award; and his latest, Inkling, which the New York Times called “astonishing.” Ken Oppel lives with his family in Toronto. You can find him online at kennethoppel.ca and on Twitter at @kennethoppel.

 

From AudioFile:

This full-cast narration of a young adult science fiction adventure is, despite minor flaws, pure fun. Hero/narrator Matt (David Kelly), a cabin boy on a lighter-than-air liner in the book's Jules Vernesian world, finds adventure and romance among pirates and mysterious flying creatures on an uncharted island. Kelly's voice is irresistibly likable and engaging, though he does overact slightly. His narration frequently continues the tone of preceding speeches, especially questions. Some scenes call out for sound effects, and there are none. But these are quibbles. The original music is excellent; the story, if occasionally predictable, is well told and its world charming. The program as a whole is a nearly unalloyed pleasure. W.M. 2007 Audies Award Finalist © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060531827
• ISBN 13: 9780060531829
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 544