Jack Knight’’s Brave Flight: How One Gutsy Pilot Saved the Us Air Mail Service

High-flying history is brought to life in this suspenseful story of an unknown and daring pilot named Jack Knight, who in 1921 flew his biplane straight into a blizzard over America’s heartland and saved the US Air Mail Service in the process.

When Jack Knight takes off in his biplane from North Platte, Nebraska, in 1921, hundreds of people crowd the airstrip. Is Jack transporting a famous passenger? Is he ferrying medicine for a sick child? Nope--Jack has six sacks of mail.

For the past few years, biplanes like Jack’s have been flying the mail only during daylight hours. Flying after dark is risky and crashes are too common, so lawmakers decide to cut funding for the US Air Mail Service. Outraged officials and pilots want to prove that flying the mail is best, so they concoct a plan--a coast-to-coast race.

But when a crash, exhaustion, and a snowstorm ground three of the planes, Jack Knight becomes the race’s only hope. All he has to do is fly all night long, leaning out of the plane to see, and navigate a blizzard over land he’s never covered with an empty fuel tank. Will Jack pull it off and save the Air Mail Service?

Jill Esbaum is the award-winning author of several books for young readers. Some of her titles include LITTLE KIDS FIRST BIG BOOK OF HOW, CHERRY BLOSSOMS SAY SPRING, and HOW TO GROW A DINOSAUR. A frequent school visitor and conference speaker, she also teaches writing for children.

Stacy Innerst is a painter, children’s book artist, and educator. His books have received a host of starred reviews and have been honored with The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award, the SCBWI Golden Kite for Picture Book Illustration as well as several Gold Medals from the Parents’ Choice Awards. His recent books for Calkins Creek include SAVING LADY LIBERTY and LINCOLN CLEARS A PATH. Illustrator site: stacyinnerst.com