Content levels
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
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.
Is Airborn appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
Parents should know this features airship adventure with some peril from pirates and dangerous situations, but violence is age-appropriate with no graphic content. A dying character appears early. Themes of class difference and following dreams.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include death and peril.
Who'll love this
Kids will love the thrilling airship adventure, sky pirates, mysterious flying creatures, and a hero who gets to live aboard a magnificent flying vessel.