The Boy Who Could Fly Without a Motor

By Theodore Taylor

Book Overview

Jon Jeffers is the loneliest nine-year-old on earth. It's 1935, and he's stuck on a tiny rocky island off the coast of San Francisco with his mother and his lighthouse-keeper father. Jon longs for something more. If only he had a way to escape this forsaken pile of rocks, he could have some real adventures.

Then one morning the irritable ghost of an ancient magician appears on the beach and offers--amazingly--to teach Jon to fly. Jon agrees, and at first flying seems to be the answer to his wildest dreams. But then he flies into some serious trouble. . . .

From the acclaimed author of The Cay, here is a sweet, funny, and outrageous tale of a boy who gets his dearest wish--and then wishes he hadn't.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152047670
• ISBN13: 9780152047672
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 153 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Educators Recommend.

The year is 1935. The setting: a small, rocky island off the coast of California , home to a lighthouse, a family of three, a dog named Smacks. The main character, Jon Jeffers, is nine, stuck on the island with his mother, Mabel, and his father, James, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard and temporary lighthouse keeper. Jon is lonely-so lonely that he attempts to contact someone (using telepathy) who can help him learn to "body fly." That way he could fly across the waves and visit the mainland anytime he wanted. What he ends up doing is attracting the attention of a grumpy, long-dead Chinese magician named Ling Wu. Jon asks Ling Wu to teach him how to levitate. Ling Wu agrees, but makes Jon promise that he won't tell anyone the secret (and threatens to boil Jon in dragon's bile, stuff flaming straw up his nose, turn his ears into goat's horns, and nail his toes to a shark's back) if he does. Jon promises. After much trial and error-and a crash into his bedroom furniture---Jon learns to soar. He disobeys Ling Wu's orders not to fly a far distance at first and almost ends up in the ocean. His disobedience also causes his powers of levitation to go haywire. He begins to levitate at odd moments---and in front of his parents. Eventually the truth comes out. Jon is suddenly thrust into the lime light. The military becomes involved, as does President Roosevelt. Jon is a worldwide flying sensation. The problem is, he can't control it, and must walk around weighted down with paint buckets lest he fly into the atmosphere. The solution, thanks to Ling Wu, brings this touching, funny, satisfying, story full circle. Jon is a likeable character that upper elementary and middle grade readers will readily identify with. The story is ripe with ideas to explore: Jon's loneliness, his tenacious efforts to make his dream come true, his attempts to keep his word despite tremendous pressure not to. Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff