Stealing Air

by Trent Reedy

You can't just ask for the chance to fly . . .

When his dad announced they were moving to Iowa, Brian looked forward to making some new friends. But on his first day there he makes an enemy instead -- Frankie Heller, the meanest kid in town. Brian needs to hang out with someone cool to get back on track. . . .

Alex has always been the coolest guy around, and good with money, just like his dad. But now the family is struggling, and he needs to make some cash to keep up appearances. Then an opportunity falls in his lap . . . .

Max is a scientific genius, but his parents are always busy with their own work. Building an actual plane should get their attention -- if only he wasn't scared of heights . . .

The answer to all three boys' problems starts with Max's secret flyer. But Frankie and the laws of popularity and physics stand in their way. Can they work together in time to get their plan AND their plane off the ground?

Genres: Middle Grade, Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Aeroplanes, Friendship, Childrens

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the very beginning, Stealing Air had me. My inner geek loved Max's enterprising scientific inquiry and ate up every little Star Trek reference as a fellow fan in this sleepy little Iowa town whose claim to fame was that it is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. All the characters are easily to relate to and a whole lot of fun. Brian, Alex, and Max are all navigating the time of innocence that is 6th grade complete with 6th grade problems: making friends in a new town, deciding what's "cool," sorting out boy-girl relationships, earning the approval of parents, and dealing with a bully. Meanwhile they are accomplishing an uncommon adventure of building a glider from foraged parts and engage in some fantastic feats to get there. I am neither a skateboarder nor an aviator, but learned to appreciate both while reading this book, as it was rich in authenticity and terminology.

I had a niggling adult voice in my head as I read at times, worrying about the dangerous chances the boys were taking and the harm that could come to them from "borrowing" (stealing) items and lying to their folks. They also deal with a bully by what could be construed as a vicious prank, all without consequences. In the end I simply had to shush that adult voice and enjoy the little fantasy. Stealing Air was one of those books that allowed me to feel as if I went through the adventure myself without risking the danger. It was a daydream on paper.

I'd been wanting to read this book ever since I saw the Scholastic video book talk with the author on their website. I think my students would be interested to know that Trent Reedy actually started the idea for the book from a sixth grade writing assignment. Years later, this wonderful book is the result.

[Avi K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stealing Air by Trent Reedy is a great book for teenagers who are interested in adventure. It is a great book and he really details all the actions causing you to believe you are apart of the adventure and apart of the book. He also teaches us how totally different kids can get along even though they never expected that to happen.
The book is about three kids who get together and fix up an airplane that they can fly in. They are all different one kid is a total nerd named Max, the new kid is Brian, and the popular kid is Alex. They all work together and get along because of this project they're doing.
In all Trent Reedy is great at elaborating their actions and keeps the book interesting from the first page to the last. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in planes, adventure, etc.

[J.A. Dalley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a really fun light book about a couple of kids who are anxious to do something amazing!

I enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing them go through all their troubles.

The whole time I was reading this book all I could think about was just how much this story reminded me of my own daydreams when I was the age of the characters in this story. That's probably why I enjoyed this book so much too.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arthur A. Levine Books
2012
266 pages

This book is for an elementary student to read possibly middle school. I like the story because the "nerd" overcomes the "bully" and kids helping adults. A boy who recently moved into a school district becomes friends with two unlikely locals. Together, they set a goal and work diligently to meet the goal. Good story.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with my son for his fifth grade literature circle. It has been his favorite book so far out of six books he had to read this year in his advanced English class. It is a very cute book for this age, very engaging, and making them want to read more. He never wanted to stop reading this book at night. he kept asking for one more chapter.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my 6th and 7th grade classes. They LOVED it. Perfect for middle school boys and girls.

[Shaeley Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boys building a small airplane in secret.

[Andrew Chang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a very interesting book, I reread it 2 times.

[Cade Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine you are flying high up in the air with your own personal airplane that you built yourself! In the book Stealing Air written by Trent Reedy many challenges are faced along the way. The main idea of this book was overcoming challenges even when they seemed impossible.

This book is about three young boys, Brian, Max, and Alex who form a friendship as they build a secret airplane all by themselves. Brian had just moved from Seattle to Riverside, Iowa and was the new kid in town. Alex is a skater that always had a daring side. Max has always been a genius and is good at building several different things. Along the way they faced bullies who didn't believe in them, lack of materials, broken planes, punishments from their parents, and finding ways to sneak out of the house but it never stopped them from working together to build the plane of their dreams.

This book is best for people who like action books and who like problem solving. The author's writing helped me vividly picture what was happening during the book. He revealed the characters very well in different ways such as creating a strong vision of the main bully, Frankie and how he interacted with the three friends. Some of the character decisions did feel realistic but not all. As the book went on, more and more exciting events kept happening, which kept me interested.

Overall I felt this book was a good read. It shows you how teamwork is a big part in building not only a big project such as an airplane, but also how working together and building a friendship is also an important part of the process as well . Trent Reedy wrote this book to show friendship,

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Brian and his family have moved to Iowa, and the only thing keeping him excited to be there is skateboarding and making some friends. Max, the smart nerd and Alex, the popular gambler become a team with Brian as they try to make a plane made of plastisteel fly. Overcoming those challenges while being bullied at school and worrying about family finances keeps Brian busy. I think students will like the action part, of flying the plane (and crashing too). It felt like the 6th graders acted more like 8th graders to me. And the part with the pig ballon- that was really dumb of them to do that and it felt like they had no idea they could have died or were even that scared. No swears, some bullying violence including physical attacks, and some budding romance including a date and hand holding. 5th grade and up.

[Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SO GOOD! I first read this book about 2-3 years ago but I just found it at my schools library. Imagine my surprise when I found one of my favorite books from 5th grade in 8th grade! The book follows the journey of a boy in a new town who misses the good old days of flying with his dad. The first real friend he makes turns out to be an insanely smart kid who is building a plane. His second friend, the schools bookie (someone who collects bets). The wonderful story of three boys overcoming adversity (problems) and, hopefully, stealing air (flying)! I hope you enjoy this book as much as, or more than, me! -Levi

[Sara Grimm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story! Would make an awesome IBOB book, for elem or middle.
There is a date where the boy and girl go skateboarding together and later hold hands, and the boys talk about putting their arm around girls while sitting next to them. Also, there’s the stealing of plasti-steel and lying to the parents about selling the mini airplane to the rich lady. Those are the events parents might object to.

[maria soleil 🌞 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried reading this, but couldn’t get through it mostly due to the dialogue’s over-exertion of the word “stupid.” Such overuse of a word affects one’s subconscious in a terrible way.
I found the concept quite brilliant, but the dialogue dull.

As somewhat of a child, I don’t call this a children’s book.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book had a lot of comparing and contrasting Also went into detail with a lot of objects and i really like that.

[Aayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this book is great

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three young boys all from struggling families set out to make and airplane out of special material and fly it. creative and fun. teen and up

[Aspen]

Love this book, congrats, reedy.

[Adelynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though I re-read it I was still at the edge of my seat! No matter what I felt all the same things I did when I first read it!

[Dominick Justo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really do love this book so much! It has been almost a month since I started reading this book, yet I still can't forget all the characters and the plot here. I really love this!

[Dene Gomez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trope after trope. But still nice to read.

[Efm1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

So boring

[Amanda]

'twas lit

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian and his family have just moved from Seattle to Riverside, Iowa (future home of Captain James T. Kirk). His father has started a new company that will manufacture plastisteel, a new super-strong plastic. On his first day, Brian joins the kids at the local skate park and quickly grabs the attention of bully Frankie and hottie Wendy, Frankie's sister. He is rescued by nerdy Max, who also happens to be the son of his dad's partner. Max has secretly been building an airplane out of plastisteel, which he stole and he needs Brian's help. They recruit cool kid Alex to be the copilot and together attempt to get the airplane to fly. Everything does not go smoothly however. Frankie continues to bully Brian and Max, the company doesn't have the financial backing it needs to continue, and they can't get the plane off the ground.

These kids are very motivated and smart. They are dealing with a lot of stuff at home and school, but when they are working on Blackbird (the plane) they really come together. There is a lot of action in this book: attempts at flying, skateboarding tricks, fights, etc., but it doesn't take away from the story of friendship and bullying. The bullying is a prominent theme throughout the story. Not just Frankie's bullying but also the caving in to peer pressure that ends up being a different type of bullying. When working on Blackbird, Brian, Alex and Max are a united front and friends, but at school they are not. Max is the nerd who gets picked on and eats lunch alone. Alex is the cool kid who runs the betting pool at school. Brian is stuck somewhere in between, wanting to be part of the cool crowd, but still picked on by Frankie.

My one complaint about the book might be the kids themselves. The kids are in 6th grade and I didn't think they acted like 6th graders at all. Max is way smarter than any 6th grader could ever be (he builds an airplane from scratch!) and he talks like no human ever would. I really didn't find him believable at all. The only times he acted normal was when he was getting picked on. Alex runs a betting pool. Any bets taken at the school are through him. He gets a cut of them all. Really!??!? I don't know any 6th grader who could do that. Brian is probably the only normal one of the bunch. He is worried about his parents fighting, Frankie's bullying, his crush on Wendy and his standing at school. All completely normal 6th grade stuff.

I did like this book and I think middle grade readers will as well, especially boys.

[Erin Forson · Rating 3 out of 5]

When sixth grade skater, Brian, moves to a small town in Iowa from big-city Seattle, he sees it as an opportunity to “start fresh.” However, it doesn’t take long for Brian to land on the radar of the class bully, Frank, and to fall for Frank’s sister, Wendy. It seems like things couldn’t get any worse—that is until Brian’s parents can’t find an investor for their company invention, Plastisteel. Now Brian has bigger problems to face. If Brian can’t help the company find an investor fast, Brian’s family will lose everything, and Frank will be the least of his problems.

One of this novel’s strengths is the fact that its main characters are layered. Readers will enjoy meeting Brian, an everyday kid who struggles with everyday decisions. For instance, when class brainiac, Max, makes friends with Brian and they begin to build a flier made of plastisteel, Brian has no idea that he will be in Max’s class at school. Once faced with the decision to sit with Max at lunch, Brian wonders if being Max’s friend is worth being seen as a nerd, and he must meet cowardice head-on—not an easy thing to do at any age, let alone in the sixth grade. Frank is your typical bully but he has a sad past and a caring sister; Max is a genius with a sophisticated vocabulary but he hides a dark secret; and Alex is a successful “bookie” whose family seems rich but might not be. Readers are encouraged to look beneath the surface of the characters and to make real-world application of this lesson. Of course, in every good “guy book” there is action, and this novel is no exception. Brian and his crew face dangerous risks to create a flier that will fly like a regular airplane but with none of the safety features, and like typical guys, they jump into the dangers head first. Each trial run is fast-paced, easy to read, and makes the heart pump; and in between test runs, Brian’s confrontations with Frank amp up the tension. Reedy does a great job portraying the way young boys interact with one another, all the while keeping dialogue squeaky clean. Couple that with traditional values and multi-generational families, and this book would be at home in any library, especially in smaller communities. For guys who only care about action, this book is for you, but for books with similar stunts and lots of humor try How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen or Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos.

[Terrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Brian moves to Riverside, Iowa, the future home of Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, he practices his advanced skateboarding tricks at the town park. He becomes the target of the town bully, Frankie. He makes friends with the town nerd, and his dad’s business partner’s son, Max and the town’s cool kid, Alex. Brian also has his eye on Wendy, a cute girl who is also Frankie’s sister.

Max has secretly built an airplane out of plastisteel, a new strong type of plastic. With Brian and Alex’s help, the three try to prove the durability and usefulness of plastisteel by flying the airplane and gaining media attention. If they succeed they might be able to save their parent’s business. But they have to work and plan undercover until the plane is ready to fly.

This was a great adventure story with some intense scenes. The biggest problem for me was that these are kids who are just starting 6th grade, which kind of ruined the whole story for me. I’ve never met a 6th grader who could build a plane or fly one unassisted. Also Max is not only ultra-intelligent, his vocabulary is far too sophisticated. If the characters were high school students, it would have greatly helped the believability of the story.

Also, I feel like the author missed some great opportunities. During several very suspenseful flying tests, where I was emotionally involved, the action was over much too quickly. There was this great build up and suddenly it was all over. I think that those moments should have been embellished.

For the most part, this was an original plot that was smart and interesting. The bullying element was a major theme and the quandary Brian has of being friends with the nerd, Max, adds a whole deeper level to the plot. Because of the skateboarding, rocket bike, and food contest, I think it will appeal to younger boys, so I will give it a higher rating than I normally would.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sixth grader Brian Davis is not thrilled with his family's recent move from Seattle to Riverside, Iowa. But the move offers a chance for a fresh start, and Brian, who is quite adept with his skateboard, tries to get off on the right foot with the popular crowd. In order to do so, though, he must ignore the offers of friendship from geeky Max Warrender who spouts off scientic jargon and Star Trek references, to the amusement of his classmates. Brian actually has quite a lot in common with Max since both of them love planes and both are picked on by Frankie, the school bully whose sister Wendy catches Brian's eye. Brian, Max, and Alex (one of the popular boys) band together to fly an airplane Max has built using a special substance created by his mother. If some of the plot and action are over the top with the boys somehow managing to escape severe injuries as they experiment with the plane, it's still sure to interest readers interested in flight or looking for their own place to fit in. How the three got away with all their plans without adult interference attests to the need for distracted parents to keep sharper eyes on their offspring while Brian's eventual realization that his annoyance at Alex's inability to stand up for him against Frankie is similar to his own cowardliness. I rooted for the boys and was willing to forgive some of the story's flaws because the author does a great job of describing middle school and its particular social pecking order. Once readers get past all the skateboarding lingo, at the heart of the story are three boys trying to find their way amid turmoil in their own homes. Fans of the author's earlier Words in the Dust are cautioned that this is a very different kind of story although the theme of finding oneself and one's place in the world are important in both books.

[Eshan Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who has ever wanted to fly an airplane? The reason I picked out this book is because the cover and the picture caught my eye. When I was little I always wanted to control and sit in air planes. This is what this book is all about.

The main character Brian had lived in a nice neighborhood where school came first and skating came second. He loved skating and the best thing he loved about it was getting big air.

Later in the book Brian's dad finds a job in the Midwest and Brian has to tag along with him but Brian is not happy that they have to move. His friends and the house where he was for a bit of his life was about to all slip away.

After moving Brian finds a great friend by the name of Alex. The two things that they have in common is that they love skating. As the book moves along Brian goes to his new school and sees a kid being bullied. Brian helps him up and ask's for his name (Max). In the book he is port raid as a skinny tall boy who loves airplanes.

Everyday Brian, Alex and Max would all hang out but one day Max shows off his big project of building a plane. At first Brian and Alex are not fully on board but as they grow closer and closer they agree to help him build and fly it.

The main conflict is that Brian meets this beautiful girl named Wendy and is not always available and there is this bully Frankie who finds out about the plan and wants to ruin their project.

the romance between Wendy and Brian was ponderous. Many times when there were scenes like these I had to put the book down and come back to it. On the other hand I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants to read a good book and to the people who have a passion for airplanes.

[CC. Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a story of dreams and bullies and science. Brian and his family have a lot of adjusting to do. They've just moved to Iowa, and Brian's father is desperately trying to refine his invention before the whole family falls apart. Add a bully and a nerd to the mix and you have the makings of a fairly interesting plot. Brian has some of his father's inventive spirit and, before too long, he's teamed up with the science nerd on a plan that might save his father's business and his family.

It was an okay read for me. I can't recommend you run out and buy it, but if it happened to be placed in your hands, you have nothing to lose and a fairly pleasant tale to gain. It is worth the time you will spend reading it. The story takes awhile to get into but is a solid read. The characters are very believable and realistic, but the plot sometimes stretches credulity. The romance with the bully's sister was a nice twist. The real pleasure for me in this book was seeing a group of young people set their sights on a common dream and do everything in their power to make this come true. It's a good role model for a generation of young people who sit around watching TV and playing video games. Go outside!

There are some parts of the book I found horrifying, as a mom and teacher. I hope no real child would ever do the airplane test. It's a great way to end up very dead, very quickly. Of course, this danger aspect will make it very appealing to young male readers. There's a lot about skateboarding and building homemade airplanes. It should come with a warning: don't try this at home!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this I thought of many of Gary B. Schmidt's books, which I have a difficult time selling to MG readers but are loved by adults. The themes of bullying and owning your geekiness are not presented in a way that will really appeal to the target readers, although the skateboarding and the experimental airplane might (the rocket bicycle? definitely cool!).

Brian's move from Seattle to Iowa isn't starting well - his skateboarding skills are impressive, but he's run afoul of Frankie, the class bully. Rescued by Max, a Star Trek loving inventor, he tries to figure out how to fit in; Alex, his grandfather's handboy makes up the third in their Eagle's Nest lab. Alex is one of those fickle friends, hanging with the cool kids and ignoring Brian during school but being one of the "gang" after school and on weekends. That isn't as touched on as it could have been. Frankie's reasons for being "mean" are also touched on, but his comeuppance doesn't seem as though it would stop his bullying.

If there's been less on the theme of bullies and just more on the airplane and skateboarding this would have been a far better book.

ARC provided by publisher.

[Tima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three young boys with stolen airplane material can only lead to disaster. Brian is getting ready to attend a new school because of his dad’s new job. He enjoys skateboarding, flying airplanes and hanging out with his friends. But his dad sold their Cessna to pay for the new business and Brian needs to make new friends. His first day of meeting people doesn’t exactly end well. He makes an enemy of the local bully, gets befriended by a social outcast, and must begin keeping secrets from his family. Brian must decide how to handle the bully, commit social suicide and fly a plane without a cockpit in this wild and crazy tale of boys growing up. If he can make the right decisions he’ll be able to make lifelong friends, save his dad’s business and stay alive. Young boys will revel in the daring exploits and moan with sympathy at the stories of school and social life. The book is about life, decisions and trust. While the crazy stunts that are pulled are not for timid parents, the message is something that every parent wants their child to embrace.

I received this book free of charge from Children's Literature in exchange for my honest review.