Too much time on the tarmac, not enough time in the air.
A teenage boy with attention issues tries to escape his small town in Washington by stealing and crashing small planes from local airfields.
Readers meet 18-year-old Robert Jackson Kelley on his final flight, after he’s stolen, flown, and crash-landed a series of planes in the small vacation town of Yannatok before being apprehended by local police and sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security prison. In faux-documentary style, Fenn constructs a thorough if somewhat sluggish chronicle of Robert’s childhood and adolescence, detailing the mental, physical, and societal factors that led to his unusual crime spree. These include ADHD issues, a single working mom who pays scant attention to him, a father in prison, and a spotty school record. That none of these factors is race combines with absence of markers to imply a white default. Robert’s story, based on the real-life exploits of teen plane thief Colton Harris-Moore, is relayed in a crisp, journalistic style, peppered with fictional interviews, talk-show transcripts, and newspaper articles. Though the package promises a pacey thriller, Robert doesn’t crash his first plane until almost 200 pages in, which may cause some readers to give up before the exciting third act, which is rife with police chases, vacation-home burglaries, and, of course, plane crashes.
Too much time on the tarmac, not enough time in the air. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-760-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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