• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 5 to 7

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the award-winning aerial adventure that started it all

Winner of the Governor General’s Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and recipient of many other national and international honours, Airborn fired the imaginations of readers around the world when it was first published in 2004 and its popularity has never waned. Airborn was followed by the acclaimed sequels Skybreaker, winner of the Red Maple Award and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, and Starclimber, a Canadian Library Association Children's Book of the Year Award Honour Book.With cover illustrations by Jim Tierney, mark a new decade of soaring adventures for this trio of contemporary classics.

KENNETH OPPEL is the author of numerous books for young readers. His award-winning Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide and was adapted into an animated TV series and stage play. Airborn won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award; its sequel, Skybreaker, was a New York Times bestseller and was named Children’s Novel of the Year by The Times (London). He is also the author of Half Brother, This Dark Endeavor, Such Wicked Intent and The Boundless. Born on Vancouver Island, he has lived in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and in England and Ireland, and now resides in Toronto with his wife and children.

WEB: www.kennethoppel.ca

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kennethoppel

JON KLASSEN is the author-illustrator of This Is Not My Hat, winner of the Caldecott Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and I Want My Hat Back, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. He is also the illustrator of Cats' Night Out, which won the Governor General’s Award; The Dark, a finalist for the same award; House Held Up by Trees, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book; Extra Yarn, a Caldecott Honor Book; and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, also a Caldecott Honor Book. He created the concept art for Coraline, the stop-motion animated film based on the book by Neil Gaiman. Originally from Niagara Falls, he now lives in Los Angeles.

WEB: www.burstofbeaden.com

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/burstofbeaden

Kenneth Oppel's profile page

Starclimber

As this sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker begins, it’s summertime and Matt Cruse is in high spirits as he commands a small aerocrane that is part of the crew that is constructing Paris’s renowned Celestial Tower. Not even a harrowing encounter with Babelite fanatics trying to thwart the Tower’s completion can dampen his enthusiasm for the months ahead, which will hopefully include as much time spent with Kate as their schedules will allow.

However, both Matt and Kate find themselves faced with a sudden shift in their plans when they are contacted about becoming part of Canada’s plans to launch a journey into space. Kate is recruited to serve as a zoologist, but Matt is just one of many men selected to try out for the few positions aboard this historic space vessel. While he undergoes arduous tests in the hopes of being chosen, he is also forced to deal with his sense of betrayal when he learns that Kate has allowed herself to become engaged to a wealthy young man according to her parents’ wishes. Does he dare to hope that he might truly realize his dream of traveling to outer space, and if so, can he bear to be so close to Kate with everything so very wrong between them?

Kenneth Oppel manages to once more take this story into new and wondrous directions, delving into the realm of space exploration. Even for readers who have never spent much time contemplating the mysteries of the universe, Oppel so fully realizes the aura of excitement and otherworldliness that Matt and Kate and their colleagues are immersed in that one can’t help but be caught up in the thrill of it all right along with them. The action is unrelenting from the very first chapter (in which Matt is nearly killed by the Babelites), and the plot is deftly woven, action-packed and filled with unexpected developments. Each character is skillfully drawn, adding their own nuance to this engrossing tale. Another breathtaking read from an author whose literary genius clearly stretches from here to the stars and beyond!

Starclimber

Kate de Vries is asked to join the first expedition to space. There’s a place onboard for Matt Cruse, too — if he can pass the gruelling tests. He is determined to be part of the adventure. But can he outlast his competition?