The Girl Who Fell Out of the Sky

When Piper’s ability to fly suddenly disappears, she’s completely lost. There’s a worldwide crisis looming that Piper, Conrad and the rest of their friends must undertake to save the planet, but, without the ability to fly, Piper feels completely useless. She tries to find other ways to be helpful, including cooking and cleaning and trying to help around the house, but is no good at any of those things and feels even worse. Will her ability to fly ever come back, and if not, who is she and how can she believe in herself again?

In this conclusion to the fantasy trilogy that began with The Girl Who Could Fly, Victoria Forester beautifully addresses some of the challenges that middle-schoolers face. Piper has always been comfortable with who she is and what she can do. Flying is as much a part of her as breathing, and she likes keeping her hair in braids and wearing her comfortable jeans to fly. That is until her friend Lili challenges her appearance and suggests that Conrad will never ask her to the upcoming dance looking that way. The well-meaning Lili encourages Piper to put on a dress and let her hair down, both of which coincide with her losing her ability to fly.

At the same time, Piper gets bitten by a mysterious bug and learns that these ancient bugs are a threat not only to her, but to the entire world. Saving the Earth from these bugs will take all of their skills, but, without being able to fly, Piper finds herself being left out of group meetings and plans which only makes things worse. Piper is desperate to regain her ability and her sense of self, even approaching the crazy Stark Raven for help. Ultimately, she realizes that the only way to do this is to be herself and not worry about being normal.

Piper also faces another challenge when she’s forced to stay with her cruel neighbours, the Millers and their children, while her mother is in the hospital having a baby. The Millers disapprove of anyone who’s different than them. They’ve made it clear that they think she’s useless and strange, and they plant seeds of doubt about whether or not her family will want her anymore now that they have a perfect new baby. The Millers have also passed their prejudices down to their children who regard Piper with suspicion and dislike. As the story progresses, however, two of the boys, Jimmy Joe and Rory Ray, begin to realize that what their mother told them isn’t true and start to change their perceptions of Piper and her friends.

Overcoming bigotry and accepting differences are the two central themes in this novel, and Forester addresses the concepts sensitively and without preaching. When Piper’s friends travel to far away Xanthia to ask the others like them for help, they are met with closed-mindedness and prejudice. The Queen of Xanthia where the Chosen Ones live refuses to help Piper’s friends save the Earth because outsiders don’t deserve their help. The kids learn that she also intends to build a wall to keep outsiders out and to keep the kids in, believing that they belong with their own kind. It’s only by convincing the children that everything they’ve been told about outsiders is wrong that they stand a chance of saving Piper and the world.

While The Girl Who Fell Out of the Sky is technically the third book in the trilogy, the story is still enjoyable as a stand-alone. There are references to characters and events from the other two books, but readers can easily piece it together. The so-called normal characters feel a bit stereotypical at times, but the messages of kindness, courage, and understanding are key for helping young reader’s navigate today’s world.