Blurb from the author page: Spencer Gray is twelve — finally old enough to join Dad in his glider. His mates are going to be so jealous! Going up is awesome. Spencer can’t believe they’re actually there; can’t believe he and his dad are flying in an aircraft with no engine high above the earth, the paddocks green and yellow squares below them. Crazy. And, as it turns out, it is. When disaster strikes the glider mid-flight, Spencer will need to be nothing short of amazing.
I was sent a copy of The Amazing Spencer Gray by Fremantle Press. This is not a new book. It was first published in 2013, but it has been reissued with a new cover. It was shortlisted in 2016 for the West Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards. The second book is The Spectacular Spencer Gray (here is the 2017 Reading Time review).
Here is the original cover from 2013. I have talked before about a useful lesson you could plan for your school library where you compare covers such as these and lead a discussion about student preferences and reasons for liking one cover over the other:
Boys who enjoy adventure stories are the intended audience for this book (ages 9+) but if I was sharing this book in my former school library I would encourage readers to either be prepared to read 74 pages before the action kicks in or if this seems too hard I think it would be okay to jump to chapter 17 and read on from there. The glider accident is probably not going to be a surprise for readers who read the book blurb. Reviewers mention Hatchet (the ultimate plane crash survival story as a similiar title but I am not sure I would link The Amazing Spencer Gray with that classic book which I think better suits an older audience. When I worked in a Canadian High School, Hatchet was a Grade 9 text and amazingly in 1994 the small class of students all took turns to experience flight in a small plane. I am not sure this would happen now.
There are a few chapters towards the end of this book where the action switches back to mum and Spencer's younger sister Pippa. I found these a bit of distraction from the main action of the plane crash and Spencer's need to help his father and also summon help - the big dilemma to stay or go. I also wondered why Spencer did not use the lunch box that mum had sent with sandwiches to collect water but that is just a small niggle.
One more thing - I need to give a fairly serious content warning. On page 110 you will find the word 'spaz'. In Australia this is a derogatory term that in the past was used to label people who had limited movement similar to people with cerebral palsy. I am sure Deb Fitzgerald did not intend this level of disrespect, but use of this word did somewhat shock me.
Companion books (for readers aged 10+):
I previously enjoyed this book by Deb Fitzpatrick:
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