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| Knopf, 1980 |
| HC: 978-0688118969 |
| PB: 978-0688118976 |
| out of print; look for this book at your favorite library |
| reviews, awards, honors |
| more adventure |
In an almost failproof scheme, a man parachutes from an airplane with a large amount of money, only to be seen by a boy who has a reputation for seeing things in the clouds.
Everyone knows that Jamie is a dreamer. When he looks up at the sky, instead of clouds he sees knights and dragons from centuries past and fabulous creatures from far-off lands. But one day he looks up and sees something even more incredible: a man in a business suit parachuting from a plane.Behind the Book
Avi writes:
Two elements went into the making of this book. The first was a man who was known as D.B. Cooper, though that probably was not his real name. He was the man who first hijacked an airplane during a flight. In doing so he also took a large sum of money that was in the plane, and then, apparently, parachuted out of that plane—and vanished. The other element was my own writing troubles. That’s to say I was born with—and still have—a condition which is sometimes call “disgraphia,” and sometimes, “symptoms of dyslexia.” It is not a disability but mostly a nuisance, making my writing look sloppy, full of misspellings, and mixed up word choices. When I was in school it caused real problems, but obviously my life as a writer has not been hurt. Anyway, it was these two elements that merged to create this story—a boy with dyslexia who spends time watching the clouds—until one day he sees a thief drop out of the clouds.