Everything you need to understand or teach Airborn by Kenneth Oppel.
"Airborn" by Kenneth Oppel is a story of possibilities. This work of fiction portrays what the world might have been like had the aircraft as we know it not been invented. Instead, airships of the day use a fuel called hydrium and resemble hot air balloons more closely than they do airplanes of today. The story centers around a cabin boy named Matt Cruse who works aboard the airship Aurora, just as his father before him had. When his father is killed in a freak accident, Matt is given a job by the captain of the ship, enabling him to continue to support his mother and two sisters.
The story begins with the discovery of a hot air balloon, adrift and in distress. The balloon's pilot, Benjamin Molloy, lives long enough to ask Matt if he'd seen 'them', and dies shortly after realizing Matt had... View more of the Airborn Summary
Kenneth Oppel