"An inspirational heroine magically transported into a thrilling adventure in the skies."
Tara Binns never knows what will happen when she opens her old dressing up box in the attic. In this first of her anti-stereotypical adventures she suddenly finds herself the pilot of a jet plane flying high above the ocean and scarily responsible for the lives of passengers and crew.
Luckily she is always accompanied on these adventures by Ayesha and Ortez who encourage her to have faith in her abilities and work through the problems ahead. Even a tropical storm and an emergency landing can be tackled by this quick witted heroine.
Aimed at readers ready for longer chapters with more complex ideas and with a diverse and representative cast of characters this colourfully illustrated and engaging series is an excellent choice for the classroom or library.
I can see that Tara Binns is all set to be the Mr Ben of this generation and this time we have a female role model! David McKee’s book and TV series no doubt inspired many boys in the 1980’s to reach for their dreams- whatever they may be.
But as the WISE campaign for gender balance in STEM professions, which endorses this series from Collins Big Cat, tells us: only 8% of girls go on to study STEM subjects and only 22% of women are employed in STEM careers. Tara Binns could help to change that and inspire girls to open their eyes to their full potential!
Each story in this book banded series has a reading guide at the back providing practical support and stimulating activity ideas. There is a full teaching guide and lesson plan available on the website https://collins.co.uk/pages/tara-binns and WISE are providing real life case studies for each of the careers featured.
Double-quick Doctor and Big Idea Engineer are available now and 3 more STEM career titles will follow later in the year.
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If, like me, this is the first time you have met Tara Binns, you are in for quite an adventure! This is satisfying adventure story, in 7 chapters.
If, like me, this is the first time you have met Tara Binns, you are in for quite an adventure! Tara opens her dressing-up box and is ‘tingled’ into the cockpit of a jet plane! She applies her quickly-learned flying and problem-solving skills to an extreme weather situation, and successfully lands the plane on a deserted island, with the help of the co-pilots. Geographical features of the landing zone trigger Tara’s prior knowledge of pirates, and with the help of the crew and passengers, a fantastic discovery is made. Tara is shown to be altruistic by sharing with those in great need.
When Tara returns from her adventure she reflects on the things she did well: keeping calm under pressure, thinking fast & being part of a great team.... Read Full Review
With the help of a magical dressing-up box, Tara Binns experiences another gripping adventure, this time as a pilot navigating through dangerous weather.
Exciting and fast-moving story in which Tara finds herself magically transformed to become the pilot of a passenger plane. With the help of her two co-pilots she navigates the plane to their destination only to find a storm raging over their proposed landing area. Using the skills she has learned, Tara takes the decision to divert around the storm, avoiding the disaster area which the storm has created and makes a successful emergency landing on a desert island.... Read Full Review
An excellent series based around STEM careers. High-flying Pilot covers multiple themes and is exciting and adventurous.
This series is based on a clever girl called Tara who saves the day with her quick thinking. These books have a different theme based around STEM careers. The copies I received to review were Big Idea Engineer, Double Quick Doctor and High-Flying Pilot. They are fast paced and exciting and the topics are extremely interesting. Each story begins with a bit of magic where Tara opens up her dressing up box to be whisked away into different situations where, with the help from her two friends has to solve different problems. My favourite was Big Idea Engineer where you learn about how cars are made and the safety checks in place for them, although High-flying Pilot was equally as good covering multiple themes with an exciting and adventurous story line.... Read Full Review