Born to Fly

July 13, 2009
Ferrari's novel, which won the Delacorte Yearling Prize for debut middle-grade authors, takes readers on a high-flying, nail-biting historical adventure that is uplifting and just good fun. Set during WWII in a sleepy Rhode Island town, Ferrari's story is narrated by an imaginative preteen girl whose nothing-can-stop-me attitude will appeal to readers of both sexes. Sixth-grader Bird McGill loves flying airplanes with her dad. But when he joins the war effort, Bird feels like she's lost her only ally. Then Kenji, a guarded Japanese boy, shows up in her class. As he becomes an even bigger outcast and bully-target than her (“Why don't you go home to Japland,” sneers a classmate), Bird reluctantly befriends him. Together, Bird and Kenji stumble upon suspicious activity in their hometown and vow to unravel the mystery. Ferrari weaves in period details, but wisely keeps the focus on the duo's antics and fragile, budding friendship. As danger grows, so does their trust in and reliance on each other. Readers will be anxious to learn the fate of these two daring kids and the spy they are determined to derail. Ages 8–12.

August 1, 2009
Gr 4-7-Bird McGill regards her dad as her best friend. He takes her up in the planes he repairs and lets her take the controls, and he encourages her dream of becoming a pilot. But a special bulletin disrupts her 11th-birthday afternoon: Japan has attacked the military base in Pearl Harbor, and Bird's world is turned upside down. During the next few months, the local airstrip is turned into a military flight school, and her dad is shipped overseas. When a Japanese-American boy joins Bird's class that spring, he is met with distrust. Although his uncle, with whom he is staying, is a longtime resident of Bird's Rhode Island town, they are both thought to be spies, or at least loyal to Japan. Circumstances compel Kenji and Bird to join forces one day to escape Farley, a class bully, and in the process they stumble on evidence of an enemy submarine in the area. When they attempt to report what they have seen, nobody believes them. Their problems are compounded when Farley's shiftless father is murdered and the local engine factory is sabotaged: Kenji's uncle is blamed. Only Bird can clear Uncle Tomo, but the murderer has threatened to kill her family if she speaks up. Well-developed characters make this story of friendship amid hostilities shine. While the coincidences surrounding the murderer can stretch credulity at times, this action-packed first novel is full of engaging twists and turns, and readers learn about the injustices done to many Japanese Americans during World War II. First-rate historical fiction."Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2009
Grades 4-6 The winner of the Delacorte Yearling Prize for a First Middle-Grade Novel combines a sympathetic, unusual heroine with a spy drama set on the home front during World War II. On December 7th, 1941, just as the family gets ready to cut the cake for Bird McGills eleventh birthday, President Roosevelt announces the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.Things change quickly in Birds hometown in coastal Rhode Island. Her father joins the Air Force, and when a Japanese American boy named Kenji, whose parents are in an internment camp, joins her class, everyone is sure that he and his uncle are spies. Kenji and Birdsefforts to convince the authorities of an ongoing spy conspiracy bring them closer together, but then Kenjis uncle becomes the main suspect in a murder andsabotagecase atthe localplane-engine factory. WillBird be able to collect enough evidence to bring the truth to light? Ferraris fast-paced plot and well-developed characters will keep readers engaged until the last page.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
Kenji, whose parents are Manzanar detainees, comes to Bird's small Rhode Island town. While fishing, Bird and Kenji spot a submarine, but their story is dismissed; in fact, there is a spy in their midst, with plans to kill President Roosevelt. There's enough detail about the times, characters, and the airplanes Bird loves to keep the exciting narrative from becoming too over-the-top.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2009
Set at the onset of World War II (the bombing of Pearl Harbor happens at the end of the first chapter), Ferrari's debut novel is chock-full of both action and theme. Eleven-year-old Bird, known for her overactive imagination, has few -- okay, make that no -- friends. Only her mechanic father understands her and her passion for flying. When he joins up and is sent overseas, Bird feels lost, so when a stranger comes to her small Rhode Island town, she's ripe for companionship. This new friend is Kenji, who, in the parlance of the book and the times, is a "Jap"; his parents are imprisoned in Manzanar and, yes, he's distrusted by the locals. While fishing on the Atlantic shore, the two spot a submarine, but their story is dismissed as a ridiculous tale from two misfits seeking attention. In fact, there is a spy in their midst, with plans to kill President Roosevelt. Bird and Kenji uncover the spy's identity and thwart the plan, with Bird taking the wheel of a P-40 Warhawk fighter plane in a race to save the president. There's enough detail about the times, the characters, and the airplanes to keep the narrative from becoming too over-the-top -- but just barely. All in all, it's a spirited flyover of the home front, family tragedy, and national prejudice.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)