Freedom Flight

by Patrick Jones

Overview

Having a parent return from military duty is a dream come true. But sometimes, coming home comes with problems.

When Paige's mom returns from her final tour of Air Force duty, Paige couldn't be happier for things to go back to normal. But before long, Paige realizes her mom brought something else back with her—an addiction to pain pills. The irritable, medicated, zombie version of her mom isn't the person Paige wanted to come home. She'll try anything to get through to her mom and help her with her painful secret. But can Paige get her mom clean without ruining their relationship and her own ROTC dreams?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467790239
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2015
Series:	Support and Defend Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Patrick Jones lives in Minneapolis and is the author of many novels including the Support and Defend series. A former librarian, Jones received lifetime achievement awards from the American Library Association and the Catholic Library Association.

Editorial Reviews

"Fifteen-year-old Paige Harkins is excited that her mom is coming home from Afghanistan. She and the other Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) cadets await the flight that Paige has begun to call her mother's 'Freedom Flight,' but the person Paige encounters isn't the mother she is expecting. Her mother has brought along extra baggage: an addiction to pain pills. Although Paige and her close friends in AFJROTC have each lost one or both parents to war and depend on one another for support, Paige can't share her mother's problem. If air force superiors learn of it, her mother could lose her job. Stress engulfs Paige, but ultimately she finds the courage to confront her mother about her dad's death and other secrets she might be harboring. This high/low, fast-paced read about military life is part of the Support and Defend series and will be popular with many YA readers."—Booklist

From the Publisher

09/01/2015
Gr 6 Up—This series broaches the complex subject of teens with parents and guardians in the armed forces. Rising basketball star Tyshawn is excited to have his sergeant father home in Collateral Damage, but he was not prepared for his father's severe injury. Suddenly he has a host of new responsibilities in addition to his busy life as a teenager. Paige also has to adjust to her parent's trauma in Freedom Flight, when she quickly realized her mom has returned from service addicted to pain medication. In Combat Zone, Justin is determined to be a Navy SEAL like his father, until his role model betrays him with a secret. His aggression spins out of control, eventually threatening his lifelong dream. Always Faithful's Rosie also finds her life and anger spinning out of control when her former Marine Corps father announces he is reenlisting. These short novels clock in under 120 pages, but higher-level language and mature concepts make them a good fit for late middle grade and high school readers.

School Library Journal

2015-08-31
High school sophomore Paige's mother, a captain in the military, has just come home from Afghanistan, seemingly a welcome event. Sadly, her mother, injured in an attack two years before, comes home addicted to pain medications and tranquilizers. She's devolved into a hardened and angry woman who buries her unhappiness in a drug-induced stupor every night. Paige, dealing with friends' relationships and her own only slightly depicted romance with David, a fellow ROTC member, is uncertain how to cope with both her mother's unexplained but venomous hostility toward her and the addiction. The Support and Defend series seems to be intended as potential bibliotherapy for the teen offspring of damaged veterans. However, the novel is brief, perhaps to enhance its appeal for reluctant readers, which leaves little room for character or plot development. Only Paige is marginally rounded; others do little more than slide in and out of the message-focused narrative. Dialogue, too, is trite. Paige's mom, finally recognizing her need for treatment, comments: "I fought for freedom for others….I need to fight now for my own." After being sent to rehab, she mentions that there are many soldiers like her and adds, "We've got each other and our treatment team." Although little recent fiction deals with children of damaged veterans, there are numerous outstanding works about addicted parents that would resonate more with readers than this weak title. (Fiction. 11-16)

Kirkus Reviews