Airborn (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780060531805)

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.

Author: Kenneth Oppel
ISBN-10: 0060531800
ISBN-13: 9780060531805
Publisher: HarperCollins
Language: English
Published: 05/11/2004
Pages: 355
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 9.24h x 6.25w x 1.26d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.1
Point Value: 15
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 77198 / Airborn

Award: Michael L. Printz Award - Honor Book
Award: Virginia Readers Choice Award - Winner
Award: Grand Canyon Reader Award - Nominee
Award: Texas Lone Star Reading List - Commended
Award: Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award - Nominee
Award: Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominee
Award: Nutmeg Book Award - Nominee
Award: Black-Eyed Susan Award - Nominee
Award: Rhode Island Teen Book Award - Nominee
Award: Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominee
Award: Beehive Awards - Winner
Award: Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award - Nominee
Award: Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award - Third Place
Award: Evergreen Young Adult Book Award - Nominee
Award: Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award - Nominee
Award: Young Adult Canadian Book Award - Honor Book
Award: Iowa Teen Award - Nominee
Award: Isinglass Teen Read Award - Nominee
Award: Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award - Honor Book
Award: Governor General's Literary Awards - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/26/2004 pg. 66
Kliatt 05/01/2004 pg. 12
Kirkus Review - Children 05/15/2004 pg. 496
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2004 pg. 145
Booklist 06/01/2004 pg. 1720
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2004 pg. 477 - Book Of Special Distinction
School Library Journal 07/01/2004 pg. 110
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2004 pg. 459
Booklist 09/01/2004 pg. 121
School Library Journal 10/01/2004 pg. 54
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2004 pg. 399 - Superior,Well Above Average
SLJ's Best Books 12/01/2004 pg. 46
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2004 pg. 399 - Superior,Well Above Average
ALA Best Books Young Adults 02/15/2005 pg. 1008
ALA Notable Children's Books 02/15/2005 pg. 1022
ALA Recmd for Reluctant YA's 02/15/2005 pg. 1026