Skydive!

World of Adventure #11

by Gary Paulsen

Jesse Rodriguez has a pretty exciting job for a 13-year-old, working for his friend Buck at a small flight and skydiving school near Seattle. But he still can't wait to turn 16 and finally be old enough to make his first free-fall jump from a plane. Buck has been like a father to him ever since Jesse's dad died, and has made sure that Jesse picks up all he needs to know about skydiving while he does odd jobs around the airport.



But Jesse and his friend Robin Waterford have also learned something very disturbing. Someone's been using the airport to smuggle members of a Central American drug cartel into the United States, and Jesse's worried that Buck is involved. Jesse and Robin find themselves in the middle of a dangerous international situation, and are forced to make their first jumps sooner than they ever expected!

Genres: Fiction

59 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would a Gary Paulsen adventure series be complete without some airplane peril? Skydive! satisfies that requirement with a story that takes a few surprisingly dark turns. Jesse Rodriguez, age thirteen, is preoccupied with skydiving. His dad was a soldier who died during a military mission; his dad's friend, Buck Sellman, lost a leg on that mission and later took a job teaching customers to skydive. Jesse can’t legally make his first jump until age sixteen, but he's learned everything he can short of that. This sets him up to be a major participant when a girl his age, Robin Waterford, signs on as Buck's new student.

Robin can't skydive until she's sixteen, but there's plenty Buck can teach her in jump simulations. Robin is happy to wait; she's deathly afraid of heights. Her real passion is photography, which gets her in trouble when Pete Reeves, a pilot working for Buck, objects to Robin's snapping a photo of him exiting his plane. Why is he upset? Jesse is as baffled as Robin.

A mystery invader steals the film from Robin's camera. She suspects Pete, and is determined to find out why. There may be a serious crime in the offing, and poking around blithely might cost Robin her life. Can she and Jesse shine light on illegal doings without losing their own lives? Outwitting lawbreakers isn't as easy in real life as stories can make it seem.

Skydive! is a mostly serviceable book, though I'm disappointed by the flat writing. A kid's first experience jumping thousands of feet from a plane should feel raw and terrifying, but no effort is made to draw readers into the moment. It makes me wonder if some World of Adventure books are ghostwritten; it's difficult to believe Gary Paulsen would write such a tense scene so listlessly. I rate Skydive! one and a half stars, and I'll round to two, but this isn't the electrifying story it could be.

[Xander Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talk about a bite-sized nugget of an adventure, this was my first "World of Adventure" story and so the short length surprised me. While a part of me doesn't mind that this story took less than an hour to read, another part of me could imagine really getting into it if the tale of Jesse and Robin was expanded. These seem like two great, resourceful young protagonists and yet much of the excitement is wrapped up in one brief chapter as they have to jump from a plane. In a twisted way, it kind of makes me want to go skydiving again (just, you know, with a functioning chute).

[TheBookNerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for middle school ages! It was a relatively short audiobook, about an hour, but it was an engaging and interesting story that follows the main two characters as they attempt to try and understand mysterious events that happen.

[Kai Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, it was really short. I like action and this kinda had some, but it was too short for much to happen.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun adventure story. I liked learning more about skydiving.

[Breena · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun for the kiddos!

[Esteban Dilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aventura para pibes que se lee de una sentada y entretiene por varios días ;)