Airborn

By Kenneth Oppel

Our Story
Airborn introduces cabin boy Matt Cruse, who
works the lighter-than-air luxury passenger ship
the Aurora.
Through a series of events, Matt overcomes a
difficult family situation as he:
a) battles pirates;
b) tries to save the Aurora and its passengers from
shipwreck;
c) befriends the beautiful heiress and would-be
zoologist Kate de Vries and;
d) learns of the possibility of a stunning new creature.

Setting
Airborn takes place in an alternate past in
which airships, not airplanes, are the main
form of long distance transportation.
Genre: steampunk
Science fiction or fantasy novels that use elements of 19th
century technology, which was usually steam based.

Airships
Airships are flying vessels that are filled with
gas that is lighter than air.
The simplest airship is a hot air balloon.
The most complicated is called a zeppelin, named
after the German company Zeppelin, which was a
pioneer in using large airships in the early 1900s.

The Hindenburg Disaster

May 6, 1937
German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg was
carrying 97 people
Caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to
land in New Jersey
36 people died - 13 passengers, 22 crewmen, 1 ground
crew member
People around the world lost confidence in the safety
of passenger airships and they ceased to exist.
News footage from 1937

Discovery of New Species

We still discover new species all of the time
In May, 2015, many new creatures that still
have not been named were discovered off the
shores of Puerto Rico
Scientists just captured stunning images of deep
sea creatures off the coast of Puerto Rico.
YouTube

New Species
The 19th century was a time of great interest in
discovering new species. Why?
Science had evolved and was more sophisticated
The New World was opening up and being explored

Organizations were created in North America and

worked with their longstanding European
counterparts to encourage scientific discoveries
of species, existing or extinct.
It was in this quest for knowledge that dinosaur
fossils were first discovered in Missouri in 1854.

So lets get started