Link description and reasoning

The links above lead you to the authors page and information about him. They may help you better understand the book, and the Flight 29 Down series as a whole.

Conflict and Resolution

The conflict in the book starts out with Daley and Nathan butting heads over who should be the leader. Tension grows as the group runs out of water, the pilot and his group don't come back, and the food stockpiles run low. The plane is in danger of being swept away, the video camera's battery is run dead, and they don't have a shelter to stay in. These different conflicts make the island inhospitable. But over time Nathan and Daley stop fighting because Jackson takes over as leader.The group digs a well near an underground spring and they have water to spare for.The pilot and his group return later in the book and everything calms down for awhile. The group finds a fruit grove deep in the jungle that allows them to gorge themselves. The team is able to save the plane from being swept away, and Lex uses a solar panel found on the plane to charge their camera. In this book the group never really establishes a shelter, but i think it might be coming in the second book.

Best & Worst Parts

The best part of the book was when the group got together and set out for water. Nathan built a water trap under the trees for when it rained, Daley and Eric went out and dug a well near an under ground spring, and Taylor and Lex stayed back and got all the bottled water they had organized. The book wasn't super exciting, and that was when they were closest to danger so it was the best part. The worst part of the book was when Nathan and Daley had the huge leadership dispute and they had to fight about it. The leadership dispute was seemingly pointless and dragged on forever. And in the end neither of them got to be leader so they went through all the trouble for nothing.

Character Development Continued

Continued on from the character update in chapter 5-10. In the second half of the book, Jackson's character goes through many different changes. He starts out as an outcast who no one wants to talk to, and changes into the leader of the pack. He gains all the other characters trust, and is respected and listened to. Nathan learns that being the leader of the group isn't everything after he loses to Jackson. He starts to focus more on helping the group as a whole survive. Daley also learns a lesson in leadership, she learns that it is more important to have a group that works together, then a leader that works hard. Lex doesn't change a whole lot during the book, but most of the characters learn to respect him and listen to him when he has something to say. Eric becomes a little less lazy, and starts to help out around camp. Taylor although doesn't change at all, shes still really annoying. And last but not least Melissa, who gets both her friends back after their huge argument.

Reader Recommendation

I would not recommend this book to anyone of any age. The book is boring and the plot is very "Light". The whole book is kind of bland, and the characters aren't very intense. The book doesn't really have and exciting plot that hooks you and makes you want to read more. It is based on a tv show i think so that explains most of it. The danger the children face doesn't really come across as something to worry about so throughout the book your kind of just waiting for something to happen and nothing really does. I think that it is the first book in a series of six or seven, so that may explain why its just setting up a plot and setting and nothing happens.You would think the author would want to hook you on the series so you would read the rest but he doesn't do a very good job.

Chapter 16-23 Flight 29 Down (END)

Chapter 16 starts out with Lex and Jackson searching around for dry fire wood and suddenly they realize that Nathan has been gone for a long time searching for food, so they decide to go search for him. They follow his tracks to find out that he got knocked out when he fell out of a coconut tree. So they go back to the beach and Melissa finds the camera with a dead battery. Taylor left the camera on but won't admit to anything. Finally all the campers meat and decide to pick a leader. Daley and Nathan make compelling arguments as to who should become leader, and Daley doesn't tell anyone about the water she lent to Taylor and Eric to bribe them to vote for them. Jackson end's up unanimously being voted leader. So Daley freaks out and everyone gets mad and storms into the jungle. The next day Lex finds a solar charger in the plane and there able to recharge the battery. Nathan tries making a solar still to catch water from the humidity and it works and they get a small amount of water.

The next day all the information comes to surface over how much food the group really has. Daley tells everyone that six bottles of water was "stolen", and they only have enough food for three days. So everyone freaks out and Jackson ends up calming everyone down and taking control of the group as leader. Daley finds Taylor in the jungle washing her hair later, and she tells her she can't waist water and she has to return it immediately. She then finds out that Eric stole the other five and then she helps him sneak them back so she doesn't get blamed for the mishap.

Daley and Eric then head into the forest in search of water. The find moist water but no spring, so Daley decides to start digging and they end up stumbling upon an underground spring. They fill up all the bottles and return to camp and the whole group is ecstatic. There jumping around and partying and all the sudden Captain Russell comes out of the bushes. He stumbles into camp really thirsty and the group start raiding the food bin and looking for shoes for Captain Russell since he only has flip flops. Jackson takes command and tells Russell he must return half the food since he didn't need it all. Russell is already planning another expedition into the jungle to get a better perspective of the island. On their first expedition they almost died and ran out of water. So they give some food back and tell the group what their plan is for the next expedition. Jackson gives Russell his shoes and they return into the jungle before nightfall. The main seven travellers realize that they are in for a lot more then they bargoned for and this is the first book in a series of six or seven.

chapter 10-16 Flight 29 Down

So now Nathan is looking around for matches in the plane because he couldn't start the fire with his two sticks. He doesn't find any so he returns to his fire pit he made and starts to rub the sticks again. Meanwhile Melissa searches the plane for matches and finds some in a small box. On her way back to the fire pit she sees Eric and Taylor drinking the water that was supposed to be rationed. Eric ends up telling Melissa that she never has any fun, and to prove him wrong she runs and jumps in the ocean. Learning later that the matches were in her pocket when she jumped in the ocean. Nathan freaks out on her and she breaks down and goes and cries to Jackson. Meanwhile Daley and her kid brother Lex are looking for a place to camp for the night. In the process of looking for a camp sight, Nathan sees that five leeches have climbed onto Daley's legs. They run back to camp and Lex says that she can't tear them off that would cause infection, and the only way to get them off is to burn them off. So there all going crazy trying to get the fire started, and they have this huge leadership blowout. So Jackson steps in, pulls a lighter out of his pocket, and lights the fire. Next it flashes to the Boys in their tents in the middle of the night. Its thundering and lightening and all their gear is getting wet and the fire is going out and the exploring party has yet to return. So now all the wood on the island is wet and they can't start a fire, and everybody has decided to have a huge competition to see who will lead the group. So Daley's off counting and rationing supplies, and Nathan is in the jungle looking for food. Meanwhile Taylor and Eric are using the camera to make a film of Taylor. They have been using this video camera the whole time to document each travelors story. So far the decision has yet to be made of who will lead.