Synopses & Reviews
It's summer, 1912, and all of Saskatoon is excited about the Exhibition coming to town, complete with a Wild West show, and horses jumping from thirty-foot-high ramps into tanks full of water.
But the show Mackenzie wants to see is Glenn Martin, the barnstorming airplane pilot known as the Birdman, doing his mid-air stunts. Maybe some day, Mack thinks, he'll be a flyer himself.
First, however, he has a mystery to unravel. Something doesn't quite add up about the very inquisitive shoeshine men at Mr. Brittner's second-hand store. Mack and his Chinese friend Jin wind up locked in the basement for their sleuthing, and the criminals flee town with their loot. The only consolation is that Mack manages to save a silver model of the Birdman's plane that the thieves stole, and to return it to his hero.
As a reward, Mack gets a flight with the Birdman, and from the air, he spots the culprits stashing their ill-gotten gains just outside of town. With the help of a father and son pair of horseback riders from the Whitecap reserve, they catch the miserable band of thieves.
But there's one more mystery, and Mack Davis has missed all the clues. There is much more to his friend Jin than he knows, and he's in for the surprise of his life
Fast-paced, full of humour and authentic historical details about the early days of a prairie city, Last Flight of the Birdman will take you on a thrilling fictional ride.
Dave Glaze was born in British Columbia, and has lived in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. He lives in Saskatoon, and, for the last 25 years, has worked as a teacher, librarian, and an educational consultant. Dave is the author of five successful Coteau juvenile novels.
Synopsis
It's summer, 1912, and everyone's excited about the Exhibition coming to Saskatoon, complete with a wild west show and horses jumping thirty feet into vats of water. But the real attraction for Mackenzie is to see Glenn Martin, the barnstorming airplane pilot known as the Birdman. Maybe some day he'll be a flyer himself.
But first he has to unravel the mystery of the inquisitive shoeshine men in Mr. Brittner's second-hand store. Something doesn't quite add up and he figures out what it is, but not before he and Jin find themselves locked up in the basement. By the time they get free, the criminals have loaded up their loot and fled town. The only consolation is that Mack manages to save the silver model of the Birdman's plane, stolen from his hotel room, and return it to him.
That might have been the end of it, but after the Exhibition ends, Mackenzie gets to fly with the Birdman -- as a reward for saving the model -- and spots the culprits hiding their loot in a poplar bluff outside town. With the help of Joseph Bear and his son Joseph Junior, ace riders from the Whitecap Reserve south of town, they catch the miserable band of thieves.
But there's one more mystery going on, and Mack's missed all the clues. His friend Jin is really a girl. She's had to be disguised in her job as delivery boy for the local laundry, because it's not proper for a girl to do the job.
Synopsis
All Mack Davis wants to do is go to the Saskatoon Exhibition and watch that aerial daredevil the Birdman, but on the way there, he and his Chinese friend Jin are grabbed by a gang of burglars.