Review: Flight School by Jason McIntire (Giveaway)

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It’s the summer after high school for best friends Ben and Chris, and they are heading in different directions. Chris is determined to become a Christian movie director and, with a new friend from the Future Filmmakers Academy, he involves the entire Riviera-Sparrow household in the project. Jessie discovers she can write great scripts, Katie turns out to be a talented, albeit reluctant, actress, and everyone in the neighborhood, from wealthy, paranoid neighbors to the conservative Mullerites, supports them.

Soon Chris’s life begins to revolve around the movie. Will it succeed? Will there be sponsors so that it can go big? Is this his own big break into the Christian directing scene?

But Chris, just like Ben at his senate intern position, Jessie with her screen writing, and even godly Katie, becomes distracted by the opportunities of this life. Amidst the chaos of movie-making, baby parrots, fires, and emergencies, these young people struggle to make wise choices about the present and the future.

This is an upbeat, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable book for Christian teens, whether homeschooled or not. Full of zany situations and colorful characters, it is a godly yet non-preachy exploration of what Christianity means in the nitty-gritty of beginning adulthood.

Occasionally the wisdom is spelled out explicitly. When Jessie complained about being too busy, her mother gently reminded her

If God has called you to do something, He’ll provide the grace to do it, and He’ll also provide the time. But remember, we can’t let the doing itself become our goal. We’re working to benefit others, yes, but ultimately, it’s not ‘for them.’   It’s for the Lord. We should be ‘obsessed’ with only one thing: pleasing Him, whether He calls us to be insanely busy or completely still. (135)

And later, discussing why one of the Mullerites cannot seem to control his temper even though his community has rules for this, Sarge explained it simply: Rules don’t work to keep sin at bay because sin is already inside the very hearts the rules are supposed to protect. “And the real Source of righteousness gets forgotten as more and more rules are added….” (241)

I couldn’t resist writing out those quotes, but once again I want to emphasize that, though these principles are foundational in Flight School, they are rarely in the foreground. This is not a tract; it’s a funny book about older teens. There’s a pink VW with eyelashes over the headlights, an acting thug with a real gun, a mesmerizing law student, and group of real-life teens who love God and are learning what that means.

I recommend Flight School, which you can buy from Amazon. Although this novel can stand alone, it is about the Riviera-Sparrow family first introduced in The Sparrow Found a House, a novel that can be downloaded for free here, and that I reviewed here.

Also, there is a giveaway during the first week of September, and 4 copies of the novel are available. For more information visit the publisher’s blog.

Disclosure:  I received Flight School from Jason McIntire for the purpose of this review.  I am not compensated in any way and have given my own honest opinions.