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Title details for Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid - Available

Before Takeoff

by Adi Alsaid
Jade Wheeler
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The Sun Is Also a Star meets Jumanji when two teens meet and fall in love during a layover-gone-wrong at the Atlanta airport in this thrilling new novel from the author of Let's Get Lost!
James and Michelle find themselves in the Atlanta airport on a layover. They couldn't be more different, but seemingly interminable delays draw them both to a mysterious flashing green light—and each other.
Where James is passive, Michelle is anything but. And she quickly discovers that the flashing green light is actually... a button. Which she presses. Which may or may not unwittingly break the rules of the universe—at least as those rules apply to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta.
Before they can figure up from down, strange, impossible things start happening: snowstorms form inside the B terminal; jungles sprout up in the C terminal; and earthquakes split the ground apart in between. And no matter how hard they try, it seems no one can find a way in or out of the airport. James and Michelle team up to find their families and either escape the airport, or put an end to its chaos—before it's too late.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 7, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593416723
      • File size: 260428 KB
      • Duration: 09:02:33

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 910
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 16, 2022
      Using an omniscient third-person narrator, Alsaid’s (Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak) speculative airport adventure reimagines an ordinary layover in Atlanta. Sparks fly when Latinx-cued James, 16, meets French and Thai Michelle, 18, while passing the time by inspecting a mysterious blinking green button on the terminal wall. Unknown to James, Michelle curiously presses the button and, soon after, a power surge causes flight delays, putting travelers on edge. Waiting for their flights, the teens wander the airport in a pseudo–first date filled with philosophical conversation about imminent adulthood, past regrets, and future plans. Their initially lighthearted reaction to the disturbance (“I hope it lasts all night. Like one big slumber party”) turns panicked when a second surge leaves the airport without power. Chaos ensues as people loot stores and form disgruntled mobs, and myriad surreal calamities, such as indoor blizzards and frightening earthquakes, begin surfacing across the terminals. The urgent external situations parallel the pair’s internal fears and uncertainties while maneuvering disaster and searching for their families. Alsaid’s ominous, high-stakes narrative steadily creeps toward a gripping resolution, balancing suspense, fantasy, drama, and cinematic romance for a multilayered read. Ages 12–up. Agent: Peter Knapp, Park & Fine Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      At the Atlanta airport, teens James and Michelle find their meet cute layover interrupted by a wild sequence of bizarre changes in the web of reality. Everyone seems to be somehow connected to a strange blinking green light. Narrator Jade Wheeler skillfully creates numerous character voices in the international airport, including Michelle's amorphous accent, acquired from her French and Thai parents and global upbringing. Fighting their way through interiors of snow, fog, and rain, the pair encounter the many strange reactions of humans in panic, which range from violence to a dance party. Wheeler's tone stays bright, reflecting the quirky and sprawling prose. More philosophy and long walks than action, this audiobook will appeal to thoughtful teens who enjoy emotional stories with absurdist settings. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      Starred review from October 1, 2022

      Gr 7 Up-An omniscient "we"-seemingly representing Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport-narrates here, cleverly allowing readers plenty of deliciously privileged information. James and Michelle are about to meet-cute in Terminal B to co-consider "a blinking green light that will soon cause all hell to break loose." Latinx James's family is going home to Chicago after visiting relatives in Tampa. Michelle's trajectory is less direct: the Swiss-born French Thai teen-raised in Jakarta and Buenos Aires and now living in Canada-left France and is en route to Quebec via Toronto. Michelle's peripatetic background has left her with "this accent that morphs"-providing Jade Wheeler an ideal opportunity to practice her impressive versatility. As that predicted "all hell" blankets ATL, the pair will share reality-defying adventures while Wheeler gives listeners a showcase of cranky shop staff, anxious travelers, racist strangers, wannabe rebels, and more. VERDICT Wheeler beguilingly ensures Alsaid's sci-fi/thriller/romance takes off.

      Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:910
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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