Amanda Craig reviews Kenneth Oppel's Skybreaker for the Times. A sequel to Airborn, Skybreaker returns to the air with cabin boy, Matt Cruse, his beautiful love, Kate, and an airship filled with gold. Craig writes, "fasten your seat-belt for some terrific reading."

I haven't read Oppel's books, but they're now on the top of my reading list. (Skybreaker isn't out yet in the States, but Airborn was published in May.) Craig makes an excellent point at the beginning of her review, writing, "One of the maddening things about the present boom in children’s fiction is that so few would-be J. K. Rowlings realise the speed with which they need to hook their readers’ attention. Children should not and do not endure boredom in a book. This is especially true of boys, who will give a story one paragraph at most before the siren call of the PlayStation blots out all thought. "

I think she is definitely right here whether or not this need for an immediate hook is a good or bad thing in a reader. In any case, her review hooked this reader!

Craig includes a list of "airship" related books at the end of her article