Michelle Holmes

English

Mr. Gloyd

Block 4

6/15/11

Adventure in the Forest

The cover and title of Getting Air, by Dan Gutnam made me predict that the book would be

about skateboarding. In fact, the story opens with a group of skaters, Jimmy, David and Henry, on a

plane bound for the X Games in Los Angeles. However, by the beginning of chapter three, when a main

character, Julia asks her brother Jimmy about the statistics on plane crashes, I began to suspect that this

story was about a plane crash. What I didn’t know then was that it would also be a story about working

together as a group to survive harsh circumstances.

Jimmy, David, Henry and Julia get into their seats on a plane. An elderly woman named Mildred,

on her way to a knitting conference, sits in front of Jimmy. They are all served by a pretty young flight

attendant named Arcadia. The story is told from Jimmy’s perspective but all six characters have equal

importance in the story.

Pre-departure checks take place, and the plane is off. Once everyone is settled in and just after

Julia comments on plane crashes, a loud scream echos through the cabin. A stewardess falls to the floor

with a thud, and two men with masks stand up. The plane begins to make erratic movements.

Climbing, dropping, slowing down, speeding up, shaking. Jimmy, David, Henry and Julia begin making

plans to attack the hijackers who appear to have no weapons and an apparently fake bomb strapped

around one’s body. As one of the hijackers walks by, Jimmy grabs his titanium skateboard, which he had

made with his dad, with both hands and swings it up back and as hard as he can. It connects with the

back of the hijacker’s head. The hijacker crumples to the floor. The other hijacker moves to attack, but

as he storms down the aisle the other passengers attack him with everything they’ve got: canes,

umbrellas, knitting needles, and their fists. After some pummeling, hitting, kicking, and punching, both

hijackers are now unconscious.

They suspect that there are more hijackers toward the front of the plane, so five of them move

forward with their “weapons” and push the serving cart as hard as they can into the cockpit. Arcadia

throws hot water, taking down the third hijacker, and the fourth and last goes down as the five attack

him. After dragging the hijackers out of the cockpit, they discover that both the pilot and copilot have

been killed.

Henry, who had taken only one class in almost every subject, had taken a flying course. When

the plane begins to dip and nosedive, Henry takes control and crash lands the plane. Unfortunately,

only six people survive. They are in a forest and Julia’s leg is broken. They use twigs and cloth from the

suitcases to stabilize her leg. After spending a cold uncomfortable night on the ground, they wake up

and decide to hunt for food and water. They decided to use the front of the plane as a shelter.

During the process of trying to survive, they discuss many topics, including God. Mildred’s

birthday passes and they celebrate using “mud cakes.” They work together to find water and food, and

even make a half-pipe out of the top shell of a plane. They eat snake and rabbit. They build a fire

without matches, using a cotton ball, Vaseline, grip tape from the skateboard, and a camera lens to

focus the sunlight and start the fire. They also struggle with respecting each other’s opinions. Julia’s

suggestion to build a fire during the day is ignored at first, resulting in a missed rescue opportunity.

David storms off because he wants to do things his way instead of working with the group. The group

later finds him wounded by a snake and helps him.

After five days of trying to survive, a Mounty rescues them. Their picture is in the newspaper

and they are on the Tonight Show. Because of all of the publicity, Jimmy and his dad are able to

manufacture and sell the skateboard that saved his life.

A strong theme in Getting Air is “cooperation is survival.” The group of strangers becomes

friends through the process of trying to get the things that they need. Julia got help from the others to

make a trap to catch a rabbit, and the team used their creativity to figure out how to get the rabbit in

the trap. Each team member was important to them finding food.

I liked that there was an adventure in this book. Also, I never knew what would happen next.

The characters were all different in their own way, and liked each of them for different reasons. I liked

Julia the most because she was amazingly smart and thoughtful. I liked Jimmy because he was kind and

he listened to everyone’s opinions. I liked the other characters as well. Overall, I would recommend this

book to anyone who likes adventures and skateboarding.