38 pages • 1 hour read
Ralph FletcherFlying Solo
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “7:03am—Rachel White”
The novel begins from the perspective of Rachel White. As Rachel gets ready for school, she thinks about her favorite teacher, Mr. Fabiano. Most girls in the sixth grade have a crush on him. Rachel also thinks about how Tommy Feathers died six months ago:
She considered Tommy a “little slow”; he was the oldest student in her class by two years because was held back twice. He had a crush on Rachel, and “it was no secret that he was in love with her” (2) because he would always bring Rachel gifts. The day before he died, he even showed up at Rachel’s house to give her a special pie made of golden raspberries; Rachel rejected the pie, but her mom accepted it. The next day, Rachel’s best friend, Missy, called her and told her that Tommy died in his sleep. Rachel was watching TV at the time and heard the phrase “the right to remain silent” coming from a cop show (4). She thought about the words and suddenly could no longer speak. She had appointments with different doctors and was diagnosed as a “selective mute: a person who chooses not to speak” (5).
In the present, Missy shows up to walk with Rachel to school. Rachel’s mom encourages her to try to find her voice.
Chapter 2 Summary: “7:05am—Bastian Fauvell”
Chapter 2 is from the perspective of Bastian Fauvell. Bastian gets ready for his last day of school. He is an “Air Force brat […] Twelve years old and this would be his eighth move” (8). Bastian plays with his dog, Barkley, who will have to quarantine when they move to Hawaii because he is not a native animal to Hawaii. For four months, Barkley will be separated from the family. Even though Bastian’s dad suggested leaving the dog with another family, Bastian refused and plans to visit the dog every day while he is in quarantine.
While getting ready for school, John LeClerc, Bastian’s best friend, calls him and tells him he’s playing sick at home. Bastian says he can’t join him because it’s his last day. The two boys tell each other to have a nice life since they won’t see each other before Bastian moves to Hawaii.
Chapter 3 Summary: “7:08am—Jessica Cooke”
This chapter is from the perspective of Jessica Cooke, a tall and skinny girl with a three-year-old little sister named Monica. While eating breakfast with her family, Jessica tells them that she doesn’t want to be a lawyer like her father but instead wants “to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court” (13). Her parents encourage her to pursue law. Jessica’s little sister, Monica, insists that she can cut up her waffle without Jessica’s help, but she ends up making a mess and spilling orange juice on their dad’s suit. He yells at Jessica, and she apologizes before he storms out of the room.
Chapter 4 Summary: “7:13am—Sean O’Day”
Sean O’Day is having a good dream when he is woken by his dad’s girlfriend, Darlene. He throws on the cleanest clothes he can find in his room and goes to the kitchen. Darlene is sipping coffee, and Sean counts the empty beer bottles on the counter. There are 11 of them. Sean knew he “didn’t have to ask where Dad was” because he was “passed out in the bedroom. Sleeping it off” (16). Darlene offers to help Sean with his laundry, which reminds Sean of his dad’s last girlfriend who was 10 years younger than his dad. Darlene is 22, “barely ten years older than Sean” (17). They are out of bagels, so Sean grabs a soda and a candy bar before leaving for school.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
Each chapter is from the perspective of a different student in Mr. Fabiano’s sixth grade class. By switching between perspectives, the reader gets a better sense of each character and their troubles and motivations. Although the novel’s central conflict isn’t yet clear, the narrative opens by introducing the internal conflicts of the characters.
Rachel White is deeply impacted by the death of her classmate Tommy because he had a crush on her, and she was mean to him the day before he died. This trauma leads to her selective mutism; she learned that words are powerful, so she now avoids using them. However, the other students have yet to mention or think about Tommy as a point of conflict in their lives. Bastian is mostly worried about his dog being quarantined in Hawaii. He also thinks about how he has no problem constantly moving and reveals that he has a scrapbook of old friends’ pictures. Jessica’s character is set up to believe deeply in justice because her dad is a lawyer, and she wants to be a Supreme Court justice—but her dad unjustly blames her for a small incident with her little sister. Sean’s inner woes relate to his father’s alcoholism and relationships with younger women. Nobody is taking care of Sean, though his dad’s girlfriends may try sometimes.
The reader learns about each individual character in separate chapters, and this narrative structure sets the stage for the larger conflict of what to do with Mr. Fabiano’s absence: Each chapter foreshadows how that character will react when the class has no teacher. The beginning of the novel also sets up the importance of time. Each chapter title starts with the time of day, signifying how imperative time is to the plot: The students will have only one day to prove their independence and responsibility.
