Brightstorm

Vashti Hardy's Brightstorm is a sky-ship adventure for 9 year olds about twins who refuse to believe what they're told about their father.

What happens

Arthur and Maudie Brightstorm live in Lontown, where explorers are celebrities and sky-ships chug over the rooftops. Their dad is one of those explorers. He's away racing to be first to South Polaris, further south than anyone has ever been.

Then a woman from the Geographical Society knocks at the door. Their father isn't coming back.

It gets worse. At a packed hearing, his rival Eudora Vane tells the whole city that the Brightstorm crew stole her ship's fuel and were then killed by wild beasts in the frozen south. The twins' house and everything in it is taken. And their housekeeper sells them (really sells them, for a pouch of coins) to a nasty couple in the Slumps.

But hang on. Months later a white hawk circles over their old house. It's Parthena, their dad's bird, and she's carrying his locket. Why would a man being attacked by a beast stop to send his locket home?

That one question sends the twins after the truth, and after a new expedition heading for South Polaris.

What makes it such a good read is the twins themselves. They finish each other's sentences and still tie Maudie's hair ribbon together, the way they have since they were small. Maudie is the engineer, always tinkering with Arthur's iron arm (he lost his right arm to a snake and is very matter-of-fact about it). Arthur is the dreamer with his nose in a book, the one who says there's always a way.

And Lontown is SO full of brilliant details. Sapient animals that understand every word you say. A fur collar that turns out to be a live stoat. A villain with 365 outfits who hears there are only three of a rare creature left and wishes the other two had been killed, so her dress would be rarer. You'll want to boo her.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The opening chapters are sad. The twins are told their father is dead, there's talk of blood in the snow, and then they're overworked and sent to bed hungry. A child who has lost a parent might find those pages very close to home.

If your reader can ride out a tough beginning, the hope arrives quickly.

What to read next

For another family whose explorer dad never came home, and a race across the mountains they simply have to win, try The Mapmakers' Race. The Santander children get separated from their mother at a railway station the day before it starts, and decide to enter anyway.