In the unlikely event, by Judy Blume

I hadn’t read any of Blume’s adult fiction before, but this was well-reviewed and is based on actual events in her own life.  Probably not the very best selection to read on a longish plane trip as it revolves around not one but three planes crashing into Elizabeth NJ, where Blume grew up, within a few short months of each other beginning in December 1951.  Part of its charm, for many of her generation, will be the evocation of that time through ads, jingles, and other current events besides the plane crashes.  It also brought back to me the concept of a “non-sked” airline, a term I hadn’t heard since my father worked as an airlines schedules analyst for United Airlines at that time.  A truly terrifying concept – cheap fares on ill-maintained planes which make up their own schedules pretty much on a whim.  Whatever you may think about the trials of air travel today, at least in this country it’s no longer the Wild West out there.  Miri, at fifteen, witnesses two of these crashes and is intimately involved with several people whose lives are changed by these tragedies.  She also experiences her first real love, learns secrets about her single mother, and deals with the loss of close friendships.  A good read but never rises above a middling YA novel.  402 pp.