Linda Carlton, Air Pilot

Linda Carlton, Air Pilot is the first book in the Linda Carlton series. I am going to give a good bit of information to set up the series, and the information is from around the first half of the book.

Linda Carlton is nearly 18 years old and graduates from high school shortly after the story begins. Linda's father is a wanderer who, out of grief, took off after her mother's death, leaving Linda with her Aunt Emily. Linda only gets to see her father around once or twice per year. Perhaps to make up for his absence, Mr. Carlton lavishes presents on Linda.

Mr. Carlton gives Linda an airplane for her high school graduation present. Linda names the plane The Pursuit. Linda's greatest dream is to become a pilot like Amelia Earhart. Aunt Emily reluctantly agrees that Linda can have lessons, even though Aunt Emily is terrified of flying.

At the airfield, Linda hopes that Ted Mackay will be her instructor. She has already met him and likes him a lot. Unfortunately, Mr. Carlton knows Ted's father, who caused trouble at Mr. Carlton's ranch in Texas. Mr. Carlton forbids Linda from associating with Ted, much to Linda's disappointment.

Ralph Clavering is the son of a wealthy man and likes Linda, much to Aunt Emily's delight. Aunt Emily wants Linda to be a debutante and hopes that Linda will marry a wealthy young man. Linda likes Ralph no more than any of the other young men. Linda is not interested in getting married in the near future since she wants to become a pilot.

Ralph decides to take flying lessons with Linda, mainly so that he can be around her. After Ralph and Linda obtain their licenses, they fly Linda's airplane to Green Falls, where Aunt Emily and Linda's friends are vacationing. During the trip, a valuable necklace that Ralph is taking to his sister is stolen. Ted Mackay is blamed for the theft. Later, Linda and her friend, Louise, take a trip in Linda's plane in hopes of proving Ted's innocence.

The plot is kind of complicated and unusual, and I left out some of the details. For instance, Mr. Carlton does not know that Linda wants to become a pilot when he gives her the plane. He just randomly thinks that a plane is the perfect gift for his teenage daughter. Also, the method in which the necklace is stolen is quite unusual. I would like to mention some other odd events, but they are a bit too spoilerish. Suffice it to say that some of the events are rather strange for a juvenile series book, and during one scene, I was quite taken aback.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next book. So far, this series is proving to be very entertaining.