Fletcher’s ‘Flying Solo’ takes readers along for a fun ride

“Flying Solo” by Ralph Fletcher is about one school day with no teacher.

The book is about a girl named Rachel White, who is just a normal sixth-grade girl. Rachel adores her homeroom teacher, Mr. Fabiano, or to Rachel and her girlfriends, “Mr. Fab.”

Tommy Feathers, another normal sixth-grade boy, has an insane crush on Rachel, but Rachel doesn’t like him. At all. One night, all of the sudden, Tommy Feathers is pronounced dead. Ever since his death, Rachel hasn’t talked. Not even once.

The book starts with mini biographies on kids in Rachel’s class. Some kids include Jessica Cooke, a normal sixth-grade girl; Sean O’Day, a quiet, normal sixth-grade boy; and Bastian Fauvell, who is sort of a bully. Bastian’s dad is part of the US Air Force, so Bastian moves a lot, and today is his last day of school before he moves to Hawaii. But Bastian’s dog, Barkley, who is Bastian’s best friend, is going to Hawaii earlier today and will be put in quarantine.

Bastian is stunned when he is told that he won’t be able to take Barkley home for four months. The quarantine has strict rules: Any dog coming into Hawaii had to be quarantined, kept away by itself, until it was proven the dog didn’t have any contagious diseases.

Bastian has to make a decision: He either has to take Barkley to Hawaii and wait four months to take home, or give Barkley to someone else.

The story then starts to focus on the one day without a teacher. Karen, another student in Rachel’s class, who is like a homeroom representative, is told by the rest of the class about there being no teacher. Karen’s job now is to report a missing teacher to the office in order to get a substitute teacher, but she doesn’t go to the office. Instead, she talks with the class and the students decide to run the class themselves.

What will happen to their class? Will the kids get in trouble? Will Rachel ever talk again? What will happen to Bastian and his dog, Barkley?

As I was reading this book, I was amazed at how it was written. It shows many emotions, going from Bastian’s dog leaving to the boys in Rachel’s class making the most hilarious jokes. I also really liked how the author started out writing biographies about some of kids, so readers can understand their background.

This book is probably best for a sixth-grader to read, but it is really interesting. It even left my mind spinning with curiosity after I finished.

If you have a chance, please read “Flying Solo” by Ralph Fletcher. You will be amazed by this book and how well written it is!

–June 3, 2013–