MAYDAY: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2 by Sue C. Dugan – Middle Grade, Adventure, Time Travel

In Sue C. Dugan’s middle grade adventure, Mayday: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2, thirteen-year-old Jessie and her father, Adam, take an unexpected detour when their plane crashes on a secluded island.

On their final vacation before Adam begins chemotherapy for thyroid cancer, Jessie and her father take off in their Cessna aircraft over the boundless, azure Atlantic Ocean. Jessie’s anxiety about her father’s health is on high-alert during the trip, especially when she remembers her mother’s cancerous death.

Twenty minutes into their flight, the sky grows gloomy, and the wind picks up speed from all sides.

The storm rocks their plane, and her father hits his head, giving him a concussion and vision problems. With her father incapacitated, Jessie quickly realizes she needs to find a makeshift landing strip and get the plane safely to the ground.

The closest area she can find without working equipment is a jungle with a thick layer of dampness and an earthy smell from disturbed soil. There are no boats, umbrellas, or people around, save for one old plane. Jessie and Adam hike a short distance to a village and, curious, explore it. More than twenty people, dressed in primitive and colorful clothing, suddenly surround them.

As they look for help with gasoline, they realize they might have to spend some time on the island while they deal with mysteries that unexpectedly threaten to upend their journey back home.

Jessie meets a memorable cast of characters on her adventure, and encounters the possibility of traveling through time.

She learns that the old plane they found in the jungle—which might be the subject of years of investigation by time-travel experts—belonged to the mother of a woman named Bird. This time-travel concept is further brilliantly explored via the lens of a man whose disappearance from the real world spans six decades, despite his calculations suggesting otherwise.

The most enjoyable aspect of Mayday is experiencing the adventure from a young girl’s perspective as she becomes lost in an unfamiliar, possibly hostile place with a sick father. This story’s rough and wild plotlines will introduce children to some risk, chaos, and challenges that inspire critical thought, reasoning, and sleuthing.

Mayday: Land, Sea, and Air Series Book 2 is a pioneer in the middle grade mystery and fantasy genre.

Mayday increases in tension from start to finish, using an enthralling narrative to tug at the reader’s emotions. Get a copy and let the lovely words of Sue C. Dugan mesmerize you!