Flying Lessons & Other Stories

Flying Lessons and Other Stories, edited by Ellen Oh, was published in 2017. Oh is CEO and founder of We Need Diverse Books, which is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing more diverse voices into literature and into the hands of young readers. This middle grade collection was spearheaded by Oh and the organization with the intent to present a wide range of voices and experiences regarding race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability. In 2018, the audiobook won the Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults. Another work by Oh is Finding Junie Kim.

This guide refers to the 2017 Crown Books edition of the collection.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of racism, racial profiling, child slavery, parental death, and alcoholism. Additionally, one story uses an outdated term for Black people, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes of the source material.

Plot Summary

The 10 stories in Flying Lessons and Other Stories feature a diverse group of protagonists who grapple with the themes of Love and Support in Unexpected or Unconventional Forms, Embracing Identity in the Face of Societal Expectations, and The Power of Stories and Words.

In “How to Transform an Everyday Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium,” by Matt de la Peña, an unnamed Mexican American teenager seeks to improve his basketball skills by playing pickup ball with the best at Muni Gym. Waking at 4:30 every summer morning to ride with his dad, a factory worker who speaks very little, he encounters racial profiling and the frustration of not being allowed to play with the older men. After sitting on the sidelines for several weeks, the best player, Dante, challenges him. The teenager finds his voice, earns a spot on the court, and garners respect from the others. For the rest of the summer, he plays instead of watching and becomes the starting point guard at his high school as a freshman. Through it all, he recognizes his father’s unconventional love and support.

“The Difficult Path,” by Grace Lin, details the journey of Lingsi, a girl sold into slavery in Imperial China. The family that buys her, the Li family, promises her mother that they will to teach Lingsi to read at the age of six. After an ill-omen, the family keeps the promise by hiring a tutor for both their son and Lingsi. However, when their son FuDing’s education ends, so does Lingsi’s schooling. She travels with the family to the Infinite Stream Temple near the ocean, where their caravan is attacked by pirates and Lingsi and another servant are taken hostage. Onboard the pirate ship, Lingsi meets the female captain, Tianyi, and promises to teach her to read in exchange for the freedom she has always desired.

Merci, the narrator and protagonist of Meg Medina’s “Sol Painting, Inc.” works as an apprentice in her father’s painting business. Her father has agreed to do some painting work at the expensive Seaward Pines private school in exchange for free tuition for his daughter. Merci is eager to help despite her older brother’s reluctance. After girls on the soccer team flippantly ruin her paint job, Merci witnesses her father’s choice to be silent, which angers her. With her brother’s help, she understands that her father’s inaction was a gesture of love for her.

At the start of “Secret Samantha” by Tim Federle, the title character, who prefers to be called Sam, selects the secret elf name “Sparkles” in class, despite wanting the moniker Flame. (Although details in the story suggest that Sam was assigned female at birth, Sam’s gender is never explicitly stated, so this guide will refer to Sam using they/them pronouns.) Class is then interrupted by a new girl in military boots, who chooses the name “Blade.” Entranced with the new girl, Sam selects her for the gift exchange and settles on a pair of skull bootlaces but changes their mind at the last minute, giving a makeup kit instead. Crestfallen when Blade is disappointed, Sam’s devastation amplifies when they receive a pink sparkly purse. However, after talking with their mom, Sam realizes their feelings for Blade and gives the girl the laces after all. Sam then reveals their actual name and their preferred elf name, Flame. Blade accepts both with ease and says the secret is safe with her.

Written like a diary, “The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn” by Kelly J. Baptist details Isaiah’s struggles to cope with the loss of his dad and his mother’s subsequent alcoholism. In addition to the emotional burden of this, Isaiah must also care for his younger sister. After finding a manuscript his dad wrote about a boy named after him with superpowers, Isaiah seeks refuge in the library and aims to help the family by submitting his father’s work to a writing competition.

In “Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains” by Tim Tingle, the narrator, called Turtle Kid, gathers with extended family in grandmother MawMaw’s backyard in Texas. (The narrator’s gender is never specified or described in the story, so this guide will use they/them pronouns.) The narrator and their cousins are drawn to Uncle Kenneth, though the adults warn the children never to listen to him. Despite this, the kids hang on his every word as he tells the story of Naloosha Chitto, the Choctaw Bigfoot, attacking a family of Chukmas in Oklahoma. The Bohpoli, little wood sprite people in Choctaw legends, protect the family by tricking Naloosha Chitto at every turn. When the story is finished, the children have many questions, and even though Turtle Kid’s mom again warns them not to listen, she smiles, and all the kids hug Uncle Kenneth.

Jacqueline Woodson’s “Main Street” shares the reflections of Treetop, the white protagonist, who mourns the loss of her mother to cancer and of her Black friend, Celeste, who has returned to New York City. Throughout these reflections, Treetop details key memories with her mother, as well as moments when she learned from her friend about race, the world, and true friendship. After Celeste leaves their small New Hampshire town, it becomes clear that Treetop no longer feels a sense of belonging there. She waits for the day she can leave, hopefully to meet up with Celeste again.

Dragged into a European vacation with his grandmother, Santosh, the protagonist in “Flying Lessons” by Soman Chainani, expects to visit cultural sites and gain knowledge to support what he’s learned in school. However, his grandmother sends him on uncomfortable expeditions, including the highlight of the story, going to the beach on his own. After sitting by himself the first day, he returns for two more days, unable to make friends even when approached by another boy, Tomas, whom Santosh has feelings for. With the help of his grandmother, Santosh eventually makes a connection with Tomas and learns that the real reason for this trip was to experience life instead of just reading about it.

In “Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents,” the unreliable narrator, Monk Oliver, reveals that his seventh grade English teacher has assigned a memoir. What follows is his account of how he gained the ability to mindread after sustaining a head injury. He uses this ability to his advantage to get a science quiz cancelled and to get a girl, Angel Carter, to kiss him. The story ends with a disclaimer that Monk has embellished the truth in some parts, but most of the memoir is true.

Chris, the protagonist in Walter Dean Myers’s “Sometimes A Dream Needs a Push” stops playing basketball, something he has in common with his father who once played professionally, after a car accident. When Chris is given the opportunity to join a wheelchair basketball team, his father seems reluctant, only grumbling under his breath. However, Chris’s father has been in contact with the coach and comes to the first practice to help the boys learn to shoot off the backboard and run baseline plays. Although Chris’s team loses a scrimmage against top-ranked Madison, his relationship with his father is strengthened when they spend time together in practices.