Copyright Date:
2019
Edition Date:
2019
Release Date:
07/30/19
Pages:
227 pages
ISBN:
Publisher: 1-338-04741-8 Perma-Bound: 0-7804-8749-4
ISBN 13:
Publisher: 978-1-338-04741-7 Perma-Bound: 978-0-7804-8749-9
Dewey:
Fic
LCCN:
2018053889
Dimensions:
21 cm.
Language:
English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews
Five high school sophomores returning to their New York prep school from a camping trip in Idaho realize that their private plane has been hijacked.The passenger list includes Japanese-American Cassie, whose father owns the plane; her best friend, Indian-American Brandon; football star Tim, who is white; Tim's Latinx girlfriend, Emily; Korean-American Jay, who feels out of place as a working-class boy on a baseball scholarship; and three white adults—their chaperone, pilot, and a substitute copilot. Soon after takeoff, something does not seem right: Cassie becomes seriously ill, and the plane is heading west. The story unfolds in chapters that alternate between the viewpoints of the teens on the plane and that of Michelle, a 16-year-old Nigerian-American intern at the National Air Traffic Investigation Center who is trying to discover the identity and motivation of the hijacker. Readers learn about each character—their personal ambitions, fears, thoughts, and mutual history. With the clock ticking before disaster ensues, emotions run high, the kidnappees have violent emotional breakdowns, and everyone questions whom to trust before readers learn the true motive behind the hijacking. Using straightforward, unadorned language that will appeal to reluctant readers, Griffin (Saving Marty, 2017, etc.) seamlessly weaves in topics such as financial struggles, family expectations, and relationship complications, shedding light on the friends, their emotions, and the hijacking without slowing down the action. Diversity is indicated solely through names.Readers who crave nonstop plot-driven adventure will not be disappointed. (Thriller. 12-15)
Word Count:
38,778
Reading Level:
5.2
Interest Level:
7-12
Accelerated Reader:
reading level: 5.2
/ points: 6.0
/ quiz: 504478
/ grade: Middle Grades+
Reading Counts!:
reading level:5.7 /
points:11.0 /
quiz:Q76629
Lexile:
HL780L
Have a nice flight . . .
Cassie, Tim, Emily, Brandon, and Jay are on their way back from a camping trip, flying from Idaho to New York City on Cassie's family's private plane. This might be a usual thing for the others, but for Jay, it's only his second time ever on a plane. And what starts as a normal flight soon veers desperately out of control.One of the regular pilots is sick, so there's a replacement. Cassie has suddenly fallen ill for no reason. And Jay notices the plane is flying west instead of east.As the military works feverishly on the ground to find out what's going on, the friends are trapped thirty-seven thousand feet in the air on a plane that's clearly been hijacked. Only no one knows who's in control or why it's happening. Their only chance to survive is by working together, but when everyone is a suspect, trusting the wrong person is a deadly mistake. With each passing minute, the gas gauge drops, alliances shift, and danger rises. Will anyone make it off Flight 21 alive?