Kenneth Oppel has taken swashbuckling pirates and the ocean liners of the early twentieth century and thrown them upward for an adventure series that has my three sons enthralled. Airborn is like Titanic in the sky, with zepplins instead of ships… and with pirates attacking Titanic and shipwrecking her, her crew, and her passengers on a deserted isle. Jolly good stuff, I’m telling you.

Oppel’s books are for older readers, so I have to censor some details when I read them to my not-quite-seven-year-olds. That’s okay by me. We’re now halfway through book two, Skybreaker, and the boys are begging for more. Literally begging. I had to threaten and cajole them into bed tonight as they pleaded, “Just one more chapter! Just one more page! Just one more minute!” But bedtime had come and gone . . . and quite honestly my throat was sore from reading for more than an hour already. That, after the boys had spent half an hour sitting in the van in our garage, refusing to exit because the Airborn audio book was playing its last chapter on our van’s cd player. That’s how great these books are.

And here’s another great thing: When the boys aren’t immersed in the books themselves, they’re still immersed in the stories. I was instructed by my small trio to bring home a bag of balloons, and when I dutifully did so, the boys ripped open the bag and started blowing up their own little airships, which they fly about the house while making up airship adventures of their own. As the airships pop, more are blown up and launched. Me, I sit on the couch and watch my young airship captains run by, fascinated by what must be playing out in their heads.

Today is the first day of Winter Break, and we’ve still got a book and a half to go in the series. I think I’d better stock up on the bags of balloons. And I absolutely must give a big virtual “Thank you!” to our friend Randy, who brought the airship adventures into our lives. And to Mr. Oppel, for writing such compelling yarns.