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    Airborn: A Printz Honor Winner
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    Airborn: A Printz Honor Winner
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    Airborn: A Printz Honor Winner
    Ebook390 pages5 hours

    Airborn: A Printz Honor Winner

    By Kenneth Oppel

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 22, 2009
    ISBN9780061968327
    Unavailable
    Airborn: A Printz Honor Winner
    Author

    Kenneth Oppel

    Kenneth Oppel is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and been adapted as an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award and the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award for children’s literature; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children’s Novel of the Year by the London Times. He is also the author of Half Brother, This Dark Endeavor, Such Wicked Intent, and The Boundless. Born on Canada’s Vancouver Island, he has lived in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Canada; in England and Ireland; and now resides in Toronto with his wife and children. Visit him at KennethOppel.ca.

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    Reviews for Airborn

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      A cabin boy aboard an airship faces off against one of the sky's most feared pirates.This was a reread for me, and I think I enjoyed this even more the second time around. It's been a while since I read any of Kenneth Oppel's work, and I'd forgotten just how readable he is. His AIRBORN series isn't quite as affecting as the SILVERWING SAGA, but it's still a ton of fun.AIRBORN reads up right quick, and it's fresh and engaging from the first page to the last. I'm a sucker for a great seafaring tale, and this would fit the bill to a tee if it weren't for the fact that Matt and his friends sail the airways instead of the ocean. It has all the elements of the most entertaining high seas adventures: technical sailing details, a healthy dose of swashbuckling action, dangerous encounters aboard ship, and pirates. What more could you want?The characters are great, too. Matt is a sympathetic protagonist; it's easy to feel for him as he faces each new threat to his beloved ship. His relationships with the other characters are also nicely developed; his rivalry with Bruce felt real, and his friendship with Baz was also very natural. It's his rapport with Kate, though, that really makes the book. The back-and-forth between them is great; they bounce off each other very well, and Oppel does a great job of showing us how their friendship develops throughout the course of the book. There's enough romance mixed in to satisfy those who crave it, but there's not so much that non-romance fans will be put off. Oppel focuses in on their friendship, above all else.Oppel's alternate world is a delight to visit. He's made some logical name changes to let us know right off the bat that we're not in the world we all know, and he's thrown in some really interesting technological developments. The largest of these is, of course, the airship. Oppel's airships use a lighter-than-air gas called hydrium in place of the real-world helium, and they've been employed so effectively that no one has ever felt the need to invent the airplane. Airships share the skies with ornithopters, (helicopter-like contraptions based on designs by Leonardo da Vinci), and with mysterious airborne creatures.AIRBORN is classed as fantasy by the publishers and the author himself, but I'd consider it more of an adventurous science fiction novel. It's basically steampunk lite. Most reviewers class the world as Victorian, (I personally think it has more of an Edwardian feel), and the science shapes just about everything that happens. The airships are, of course, a major factor, and Kate's interest in the natural sciences also drives much of the book's action. It perhaps most closely resembles the romantic, swashbuckling science fiction penned by authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs back in the 1910's, albeit with a more modern approach.All in all, it was a wonderful read. I highly recommend it to YA readers and to anyone with an interest in adventure novels. I've lent it out and recommended it to readers of all ages, and I've yet to hear of anyone who was disappointed with it.(This review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina, in a slightly different form).
    • 4/5
      This was my streampunk book for one of my reading challenges this year, and I probably wouldn’t have read it if not for the prompt, but I am really glad I did.This was a fun, adventure-filled YA romp, and the audio is excellent... a full cast recording with music between chapters. It was like listening to a movie.
    • 3/5
      Airborn is a young adult adventure novel following in the footsteps of Jules Verne. Set in an alternate reality setting, we follow Matt Cruse, cabin boy on the Aurora, as he experiences his first adventure with Kate DeVries.I liked the character of Matt. His personal story is woven throughout the novel giving him depth and credibility. Fatherless after losing his dad in an airship accident, Matt struggles with the death of his father, trying hard to emulate his dad and constantly struggling to deal with the realization that his father is no longer there. This story takes Matt into the path of Kate DeVries, a wealthy passenger on his ship. Kate is on a mission which sets up the adventure she and Matt experience. I did not care for her character, although the author did a fine job of showing Kate as a pampered, selfish, manipulative young girl. At one point in the story she says that she caused all this trouble....and you know what....she did!Of course if you have an airship you have to have airship pirates of which there is a particularly nasty one in this story. I like what the author does with Captain Szpirglas by adding a son to the mix. It now makes the antagonist become more human throwing the reader a curveball in their impressions of him.Overall a good read. Lots of chasing and escaping, moments of exhilaration and moments of sadness. A little slow in the beginning but it does pick up to become a great adventure.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite books, a quick paced action book witha touch of romance!This book took ahold of me as soon as I read the first paragraph and i didnt stop until it was done.
    • 3/5
      pretty good kids book---dragged on a bit thought
    • 5/5
      air-ships, sky pirates, and flying catsWhat if airplanes as we know them never developed? This world has flight - in magnificent dirigibles - huge air ships that float the skies in lazy drifts.Matt Cruse meets Kate de Vries and together, or not-so-together, they try to save the ship
    • 3/5
      A rip-roaring adventure...airships, "cloud cats," pirates, shipwrecked...need I say more?
    • 4/5
      It sounds like a cliche, but I really had a hard time putting this book down. The characters (both the good guys and the bad guys) read as real. The hints of steampunk were just enough to make it interesting, but they didn't get in the way of the real story. And the story was engaging in the extreme. (I rated it 4 stars instead of 5 because I'm not sure how rereadable this book is. Some of the enchantment I'm feeling is because of the surprises.)
    • 4/5
      A wonderful adventure story for older children. Teaches a lot about zeppelins.
    • 5/5
      This book has action, adventure, and a little romance. It is semi sci-fi/fantasy because the setting is an airship, which is the only means of transportation. The main character is a boy, being raised by a single mom, who is a cabin boy on an airship. He meets a strong female named Kate, a girl of privilege who does not want the privilege. One of my all time favorite books. There are two more books in the series: Skybreaker and Starclimber.
    • 5/5
      I am not normally a fan of fantasy (or science fiction) books; however, I try to read some so I can recommend them to students. I was amazed that I really liked this book. It was fast paced & a great read.
    • 4/5
      Entertaining, YA full cast audio book, adventure, steampunk, alternate history, steampunk, pirates and strange creatures. I found the willful, rich girl to be a bit annoying but overall, mostly this is a fun to read book that I can fully recommend. There are about 3 kisses in the book, so a bit of romance but mostly a boys adventure book.
    • 4/5
      15 year old Matthew works as a cabin boy on a airship that cruises around the world. He meets Kate who is travelling with a chaperone and they explore the ship together. When the ship is attacked by pirates and marooned on an island, Matt and Kate are captured, escape, and save the ship.They search for sea creatures that are recorded in Kate’s grandfather’s journal.
    • 5/5
      Matt Cruse works as a cabin boy on the airship Aurora. His father, before him, worked and died on this ship and Matt himself was born on an airship. Sailing is in his blood and he feels he was born to be in the air. He befriends a girl passenger who is making her first air voyage to prove the existence of strange air creatures that her recently deceased grandfather was thought to have imagined. While making a routine voyage with a full load of passenger's and cargo they are attacked and boarded by pirates. This is the beginning of Matt and Kate's deadly adventures.I loved this book! There is not one single thing that did not appeal to me. Set in an alternate earth similar to the Victorian era only instead of sailing the seas their ships sail the skies. This is a rip-roaring, rollicking good nautical adventure that takes place in the air. Strange creatures, air pirates, shipwreck and desert islands, it is all here. A strong female character with an equally strong male character will appeal to both boys and girls. As per usual with Oppel the death scenes can bit on the gory side and this is definitely a YA book. Both an absorbing plot and wonderfully in-depth character development, along with a fully developed alternate world make this a page-turning adventure. Highly recommended. I can't wait to read the next book!
    • 5/5
      An absolutely compelling, suspenseful adventure with the glamor of airship travel at its heart. Matt Cruse works as a cabin boy aboard the Airborn. It is his home where he feels his happiest and can feel connected to his dead father who died in an airship accident. He knows every inch of the airship and aspires to be a junior sailmaker. In the opening chapter, he helps rescue a stranded air balloon. in the balloon is an older gentleman. Sick and dying, he asks Matt "Did you see them?" Matt doesn't know what he is talking about. A year later, young Kate De Vries and her chaperone are aboard the airship and Matt learns the old man was Kate's grandfather and she is on a quest to find the strange creatures her grandfather documented on his balloon travels. Pirates invade the Airborn and the damage caused to the ship forces it down on an island. It is on this island that Kate and Matt discover the creature her grandfather saw. Vivid personalities such as the elegant captain, Kate and her overbearing chaperone. Descriptions of ship life are realistic and absorbing. Constant action, great for reluctant readers. Perhaps too much derring-do a la action movies. A convincing, inviting portrayal of another world, reachable but still a fantasy.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It's somewhat of a steampunk novel in that it is set an an alternate Victorian history where lighter-than-airships have become successful. While the blurbs for the book say it is about a hunt for mysterious creatures discoverd by a dying balloonist, I think it is really more a tale of pirates, shipwreck, and young folks saving the day.
    • 4/5
      High adventure - very action packed and quite a page turner!
    • 5/5
      I also read Airborn (on the recommendation of my 14-year-old sister, who has excellent taste), and I absolutely loved it. Nonstop action, two very likeable main characters, adventure, pirates, romance, fantastic creatures - there was a lot to love here. I am always on the lookout for strong female heros, and Kate definitely fits the bill - she's curious, clever, brave, and absolutely determined. And as Angela mentioned, the worldbuilding is really well done by Oppel. I tend to prefer fantasy that builds on our familiar world, as this one does. It explores how the world might have changed if massive airships were our major method of transportation, and the details of the world are rich and very appealing. While the plot is fun and adventurous, it is Matt’s quietly competent passion and Kate’s strong will and curiosity that carry the novel. The quick pace of the plot and Matt’s enthusiastic narration make Airborn’s 500 pages fly by. This is a great choice for younger teens who love fantasy and adventure, or for older teens who enjoyed Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles. I'll definitely be checking out the sequel.
    • 5/5
      The story of Mat Cruise, a cabin boy on the airship Arora is up for a promotion. But a series of unexpected events strand Matt and the Arora on the uncharted island full of pirates and strange creatures. Can Matt save his airship. And what of his love for the aristocratic Kate? A great story for Junior high and above, especially boys.
    • 4/5
      In this blend of fantasy and adventure, young Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the airship Aurora. The ship is more home to him than the ground, and he dreams of being sailmaker one day. On one fateful trip, he meets a determined young woman named Kate who is looking for a strange flying creature no one but her grandfather has seen.I would've enjoyed this book a lot as a kid - an adventurous voyage including a bout with pirates, close escapes, and a dash of humor with the fantasy elements. It's still enjoyable as an adult, but perhaps because it took me three weeks to listen to the audio I didn't feel as in the moment or invested in the characters as I might've in my younger years. A fun, fast-paced read.
    • 4/5
      Airborn is a great "boy's adventure" yarn; well plotted, well written, and it features zeppelins, which I am fascinated by. Had I been able to read it when I was 12 or 14 it would definitely have been a five star book instead of four, but a few twists were too easy to see coming in advance for the adult reader. Highly recommended all the same.
    • 5/5
      This fantasy tale is about Matt and Kate and their quest to find the bizarre flying creatures Kate's grandfather had told her about. The flying aircraft, the Aurora, is ransacked by pirates, forcing it to land on a deserted island. As Kate and Matt make one amazing discovery after another they must fight to protect the other passengers and the aircraft itself.
    • 4/5
      Matt is a cabin boy on an airship, a kind of cruise ship in the sky. When the ship is attacked by pirates and a passenger is seeking the mysterious flying Cloud Cat her grandfather discovered, Matt becomes involved in action, intrigue, and a lot of life threatening situations.
    • 4/5
      Unusual and strangely historic yet science fiction-ish, Airborn tells of a young cabin boy who wants to be the captain of his own airship someday. When his airship is attacked by pirates and stranded on an uncharted island, he joins up with a young woman who's presence on the airship is suspect - turns out she's on a mission to discover mythical creatures her dead grandfather had written about in a journal he kept while ballooning over the very island they've shipwrecked on.Both of these characters, Matt and Kate, are strong, smart and resourceful, which makes it very easy to root for them, as they search for proof of the mythic creatures and run into the dastardly pirates.Very exciting - recommended!
    • 5/5
      As I was collecting my basic information for this book, I noticed something on Goodreads. People seem to either love this book or hate this book. I am one of the people that love this book, and I’m having difficulties understanding what people didn’t like. I saw one reviewer complain about the first person narration (valid, if that’s not your deal), some complain about the female lead being annoying (and okay, Kate is a bit haughty)… but one person said the book started too slowly. My only response to this is an inquisitive head tilt and a feeling that we might not be reading the same book. As I review books I am learning that I am a plot reader. I can deal with books that are primarily about the development of the main character when it’s done well (a la John Green’s books), but plot is mostly where it’s at for me. And I thought the plot development of Airborn was fantastic. We start in the ship with Matt Cruse, cabin boy for the airship Aurora. He generally acts as a lookout for the ship and as a waiter for the passengers, but in the very first chapter they spot a hot air balloon is distress. Matt (as the lightest on the ship) has the job of swinging out on to the balloon to hook it so the crew can save the poor old man in the balloon. The man asks Matt if he saw “them,” and Matt lies to appease the dying man. Again folks, this is still the first chapter or two. Then we jump to two years later, and Matt is stewarding for passenger Kate de Vries, a wealthy girl about his age. He learns that she is the granddaughter of the old man and that she is looking for these odd winged panthers he wrote about in his journal just before his death. This might be the slow part the review was referring to, but I can’t for the life of me see why. From here there’s a bit less plot, but we get super-detailed world building about the general goings-on of the ship… until the plot really takes off. Another point I was really fond of: Bruce Lombardi is a character that is the “other guy” in a lot of respects. He and Matt are in fairly constant competition, but Bruce is still a really likable character (which is especially a feat, considering the first-person narration). Kate is a bit much to deal with sometimes, but I’d rather have a feisty, bossy heroine over a swoony, blank-page heroine any day. Plus, let’s remember that she’s young and immature. Hermione was a pain in the first Harry Potter book too, remember? So why am I holding back from giving it a 10? I don’t really know. I really, really like it, but it’s not hitting that book-so-good-I’m-obsessed stage, where I would recommend it to everyone (like White Cat by Holly Black or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins). Possibly it’s because it’s so super into its genre, which I feel might be a moderate turn-off for all the reviewers who didn’t like it on Goodreads. We shall see if that changes after Skybreaker. Stay tuned! Additional Thoughts: Now that books are available to me in so many formats (and I am without a job outside of school for the first time… possibly ever) I find myself rating books on a monetary betting system. FOr example, I know that I will buy Red Glove in hardback the day it comes out. I loved White Cat that much. Anything by John Green generally also makes the buy first, ask questions later list. Other things, like Anna and the French Kiss get e-readered because I’ve heard good things, but may not be totally sure they’ll be my kind of thing. And then there’s the library, where I grab anything and everything. This series may have started in the library for me, and it’s going to continue in the library due to lack of funds, but at some point in the future there WILL be a complete hardback set with matching covers of this trilogy gracing my shelves. I would definitely re-read Airborn, and from reading the back cover of Skybreaker I imagine the trend is just going to continue. This book won a Printz Honor award, so that means official people thought it was awesome too. Wikipedia also tells me that there is a movie based on the book due out sometime this year, but they’ve already tried to adopt it into a movie that didn’t pan out in 2008. So the movie might be stuck in movie-limbo right next to the Ender’s Game movie (and probably for about the same reasons). Rating: 9: Super-close to perfect
    • 5/5
      Matt is a cabin boy onboard a luxury airship. It's the same ship his father flew as a crew member. His dad fell from the ship to his death a few years earlier, and Matt is haunted by the image of his father's death. Now Matt hopes to become a junior officer. He has flown on the Aurora for three yaers, and has earned the position.The airship is boarded by pirates, robbed, and left stranded on an island in the ocean. Matt once again proves his value as a crew member while helping the passengers and crew survive, fighting pirates, and finding a way off the island.Along the way, he meets a wealthy young girl, falls in love, and discovers a strange new breed of flying mammal.
    • 3/5
      The story is fun on the surface, but it's just a re-skinned pirate story with a steampunk setting. The addition of the "angels" was interesting, but not enough to make me invested in the series in any way.
    • 4/5
      Really liked this adventure story. The fantasy elements are handled well and I think the interpersonal struggles of the main characters are not overly done. It was really fun to read.
    • 5/5
      Perhaps one of the touchiest arguments in young adult literature circles is the one that asks what role, if any, does teen appeal have in the consideration of quality. There are some who believe that without teen appeal, there canNOT be, by definition, quality teen literature. The Printz guidelines instruct the committee to ignore popularity while also expressing hope that Printz books will, indeed, resonate with teens.Airborn is the book from our committee that, I believe, will probably score the highest with my teen readers (without sacrificing quality). Ironically, I have no teen comments on this one because I did not receive duplicate galleys or duplicate review copies. Obviously, I was not able to part with my copy.Think Johnny Depp and pirates sailing hot air balloons and perhaps the teen appeal of Airborn will float to mind. The lyrical writing and stunning world building are apparent from the very first page. Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow’s nest being the ship’s eyes.The sky pulsed with stars. Some people say it makes them lonesome when they stare up at the night sky. (p. 1)Matt Cruse is the cabin boy on the Aurora with dreams of someday becoming an officer. One night he spies a hot air balloon behaving oddly. When the Aurora intercepts this ship, it discovers a dead captain and a journal filled with drawings and descriptions of fantastic flying creatures, symptoms of the dead captain’s mental illness that caused his death.A year later, Matt welcomes a very wealthy young girl and her demanding chaperone to the Aurora. Kate DeVries is the granddaughter of the dead captain. She has boarded the Aurora because it is following close to the final coordinates of her grandfather’s ship. Kate is determined to vindicate her grandfather. She has very sophisticated and expensive optical equipment that she plans to use to record evidence of the creatures described in her grandfather’s journals.Unfortunately the pirates who ambush the Aurora have other plans. Kate and Matt and the rest of the Aurora’s passengers and crew are shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island.Airborn, which is set in an alternate universe, evokes a chivalrous, turn of the century mood. Honor motivates captain and crew. Even pirates have a code of conduct as well as family responsibilities and small children to look after. While we find ourselves madly turning page after page, we also find ourselves reading descriptions over and over because they are so lovely. Readers will also find themselves asking what risks are appropriate to realize dreams, especially when the dreams are not easily reached and not shared by those closest to us. What will we do when we are most afraid and when we are confronted by problems much bigger than we are?
    • 3/5
      Aiborn is a fun, well-written adventure story. Albeit a bit cliche/predictable, the story was really enjoyable overall. Those who like Airborn, but want even more adventure should read Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.