Air Devils: Sky Racers, Sky Divers, and Stunt Pilots (Cover-to-Cover Books) [Paperback]

Ellen Hopkins (Author), Michael A. Aspengren (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Don't let the title fool you: this is about more than "extreme" flight-related sports. It's a history of flight, emphasizing the part played by the urge to compete. With a tip of the hat to Leonardo da Vinci's sketches, Hopkins discusses everything from balloons, early airplanes, and barnstormers to military planes and airplane racing. Famous fliers appear in a less-familiar competitive guise, and women pilots and daredevils receive ample attention. Opening and closing with an exciting description of modern-day pylon races, the book emphasizes the thrill of flight while never minimizing its dangers. The layout, with short paragraphs and plenty of white space, is uncluttered, even with the many attractive, informative photographs. Some pictures take background for granted: a picture of the Hindenburg, for instance, is not captioned. The language isn't elegant, but it's easy to read, contemporary, and not condescending, making the book a good choice for high-school "emergent readers." Neither a bibliography nor a list of Internet sites is included. Catherine Andronik
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Perfection Learning (Sd) (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789151464
• ISBN-13: 978-0789151469
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,099,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was adopted at birth and raised by a great, loving older couple. I grew up in Palm Springs CA, although we summered in Napa and Lake Tahoe, to avoid those 120 degree summers. After my adopted parents died, I did find my birth mother, who lives in Michigan with my half sister.

I studied journalism in college, but left school to marry, raise kids and start my own business--a video store, before the mega-chains were out there. After a divorce, I met my current husband and we moved to Tahoe to become ski bums and otherwise try to find our dreams. At that time, I went to work for a small alternative press, writing stories and eventually editing.

When we moved down the mountain to the Reno area, I started writing nonfiction books, many of which you can see here. The rest are viewable on my personal website. I also continued to freelance articles for newspapers and magazines.

All that has changed, with the publication of my novel, CRANK, which has led to a valued career writing YA novels in verse, all of which explore the more difficult situations young adults often find themselves in. Will I ever write one in prose? No doubt! But, for the moment, writing novels in verse fulfills two needs: writing poetry and writing fiction. The combination is so interesting!