Jett Cooper
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Ages: 8-11, 12-15
High speed. Low altitude. No room for error.
Jett Cooper lives to fly.
When his father announces the first-ever Blue Wolf Junior Air Competition, held at their outback air show, Jett knows this is his moment. Win the race, earn a scholarship to the elite Flying Academy, and take one step closer to the sky he loves. There’s only one problem. After a devastating accident, Jett’s mum bans everything flying.
Grounded and grieving, Jett refuses to give up his dream. While his mum struggles to hold the family together and quietly sells the flying school to a mysterious buyer, Jett sneaks off to the Flying Club, risking everything. If she catches him at the air show, she’ll send him straight to boarding school.
With the help of his fearless, slightly unhinged Aunt Allie, Jett makes a dangerous choice. He’ll fly anyway.
Thrown into the brutal world of competition flying, Jett must battle gravity, survive razor-thin margins, earn the respect of a tough-as-nails team leader, and face his fiercest rival, his former best friend Ella Tao. Every race is faster, lower, and riskier than the last. One mistake could cost him far more than a trophy.
As the pressure mounts, Jett learns a hard truth. Gravity always wins. The question is whether he can outfly his fears, his rivals, and the limits placed on him before it’s too late.
Jett Cooper is Top Gun for kids. Packed with high-speed aerial action, humour, heart, and real emotional stakes, this thrilling adventure puts readers in the cockpit for loops, rolls, and white-knuckle races they won’t forget.
Reviews
Aviation nerds will love MAC Hill’s JETT COOPER, a surprisingly heartfelt racing story set at a junior light aircraft flying competition. Full of technical details about airplanes, cockpits, runways and all things flight, this middle grade action adventure about an Australian boy who risks everything to win hits the emotional high notes with strong subplots of mystery and family drama. I especially loved the tension, the pace and the main character’s tightly crafted arc, a coming-of-age growth story that features a number of compelling female characters.
I snuck in a speed-read of this book ahead of my daughter (10) and have thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. In particular, the air racing passages are very exciting and descriptive - it feels like you're in the plane with Jett through every loop, turn, and roll. I thought the author navigated the family grief theme well, and the characters were lively and relatable. I thought the chapters were well paced to give places to pause - although I honestly struggled to put the book down, always wanting to continue the story and see what would happen next. If I had to nit-pick a negative it would be that naming the full aircraft type is a bit clunky - but this is only in the early chapters (and if you're like me, you can always skip that bit!). ....and as a plane-lover and a Brit, having a Spitfire reference tucked in there is always a big plus!
