Flying Solo

Flying Solo is a young adult novel written by Ralph Fletcher, first published in 1998.

Plot summary
Mr. Fabiano is a sixth-grade teacher that calls in sick on April 28th. When his class arrives, they find that their substitute teacher is missing.  The class decides that they will not report this to the principal and will run the classroom by themselves.  The students follow the instructions left by their teacher.  All goes well until the end of the day, when a fight breaks out between two classmates and Mr. Fabiano is called upon to join in a school assembly. 

Characters in Flying Solo :
Mr. Fabiano — The teacher of Class 6-238, he takes a day off.
Rachel — She has been mute for six months since a classmate (Tommy Feathers) who was fond of her died six months ago
Bastian — An  Air Force brat that can't stop thinking about his dog that will be quarantined. He teases other kids often. Bastian has to move to Hawaii because of his dad.
John — Bastian's best friend.
Sean — A quiet boy who has a crush on Rachel and doesn't have the best home life
Karen — A confident girl, and natural leader of the class. She takes control of the class when they decide to run the classroom themselves.
Jessica — The only member of the class that is not sure the students should run the class. She believes it isn't the right thing. Her father is a lawyer.
Christopher — A nasty spoiled boy, he annoys most of the class.
Missy — A fat girl, she is Rachel's best friend, Rachel's interpreter.
Sky Reed — A new kid in the class, he's from California.

Themes
Some of topics in the novel include selective mutism, death, and grief.

Notes

References

Outside websites
Ralph Fletcher's website

Flying Solo is a young adult novel written by Ralph Fletcher, first published in 1998.
Category:1998 books
Category:American young adult novels
Category:Books by Ralph Fletcher