Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet: D.B. Cooper and the Missing Money

by Tom Sullivan

Overview

An ALA Top Ten Best Graphic Novel for Children

A thrilling new graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases, launching with a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the only unsolved airplane hijacking in the U.S.

CASE NO. 001: NORJAK

NOVEMBER 24, 1971

PORTLAND, OREGON

2:00 P.M.

A man in his mid-forties, wearing a suit and overcoat, buys a ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 bound for Seattle.

3:07 P.M.

The man presents his demands: $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. If the demands are not met, he threatens to detonate the explosive device in his briefcase.

So begins the astonishing true story of the man known as D.B. Cooper, and the only unsolved airplane hijacking case in the United States. Comic panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages.

What better way to draw readers into nonfiction than through an exciting graphic novel? This series will appeal to readers of series such as Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. Fans of history and whodunits, CSI-club kids, and graphic novel enthusiasts alike will be pulled in by the suspenseful, complex, and kid-appropriate cases in this series.

Sidebars provide fun facts about pre-2001 air travel, serial numbers on currency, airplane design, and more. Backmatter showcases period photos and primary source material in FBI archives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062991515
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Series:	Unsolved Case Files , #1
Pages:	104
Sales rank:	138,585
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	NC1250L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Tom Sullivan is the author and illustrator of Out There, I Used to Be a Fish, and Blue vs. Yellow. Growing up he loved to read comic books and watch true crime TV shows, and now he feels lucky to be able to combine those interests in Unsolved Case Files. Tom resides with his family in Boston, MA. You can visit him online at www.thomasgsullivan.com.

Tom Sullivan is the author and illustrator of Out There, I Used to Be a Fish, and Blue vs. Yellow. Growing up he loved to read comic books and watch true crime TV shows, and now he feels lucky to be able to combine those interests in Unsolved Case Files. Tom resides with his family in Boston, MA. You can visit him online at www.thomasgsullivan.com.

Editorial Reviews

"This stranger-than-fiction saga thrives thanks to spectacular design choices: 'Dick Tracy'—esque hard-boiled cartooning; rugged, mechanical typefaces; and a bevy of files, folders, and miscellaneous paperwork come together to form a fabulous criminal collage. A compulsively readable series debut." — Kirkus Reviews

“Sporting a comic book’s sensibility with a Common Core State Standard’s love of primary documents and a narrative voice you’d follow to the ends of the earth, THIS is what we need to see more of, people!” — Fuse #8 Blog/School Library Journal

From the Publisher

02/01/2021

Gr 4–6—Kicking off the "Unsolved Case Files" series, this terse, clipped account of the only still-unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history offers a minute-by-minute recap of the crime, then a tally of the forensic evidence, a general overview of the ensuing (fruitless) investigation, and an assessment of theories about what might have happened. In late 1971, a time when, Sullivan writes, "virtually anybody could walk into any airport in the country and bring anything they wanted onto a plane," a hijacker styling himself "Dan Cooper" (a false name later garbled by press reports) jumped from the rear stairs of a Boeing 727 in midair over Washington State with $200,000 in marked bills…and was never seen again. Nor was the money—aside from three bundles of shabby bills discovered near a stream in 1980 by an eight-year-old vacationer. The blocky art, which ranges from full spreads to pages of two or three unbordered but discrete panels, reflects the matter-of-fact tone with flat, simply drawn diagrams, aerial maps, news items, faux dossier pages, reconstructed events, and portraits of the crew and the mysterious perp, all rounded off with a set of period photos. Short lists of print and web resources offer young would-be sleuths further details to ponder. VERDICT Elementary and middle school fans of the true crime genre will enjoy this puzzler.—John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York

School Library Journal

2020-12-15
A middle-grade graphic novel chronicling the only unsolved commercial hijacking in aviation history.

On Nov. 24, 1971, a suit-clad White man strolled into Portland (Oregon) International Airport, black briefcase in hand. He purchased a one-way ticket aboard Northwest Orient Airlines’ Flight 305 to Seattle under the name “Dan Cooper,” seated himself behind three dozen Boeing 727 passengers, and slipped a note to a flight attendant just before takeoff. Unless he received $200,000 in cash, two front parachutes, and two back parachutes upon landing, Cooper promised to detonate the makeshift bomb in his briefcase. In Seattle, Cooper released his unwitting hostages alongside a new set of demands: Now, the plane would travel to Mexico City at the lowest possible speed, flying no higher than 10,000 feet with the landing gear deployed and a rear staircase lowered. Cooper never made it to Mexico: Instead, he leapt into the cold, rainy night above the forests of Washington. Though the hijacker vanished without a trace, his alias—misreported as “D.B. Cooper”—lives on. This stranger-than-fiction saga thrives thanks to spectacular design choices: “Dick Tracy”–esque, hard-boiled cartooning; rugged, mechanical typefaces; and a bevy of files, folders, and miscellaneous paperwork come together to form a fabulous criminal collage. Sidebars impart such important particulars as the precise weight of a dollar bill and Cooper’s conceptual-but–decidedly-amateur familiarity with parachutes.

A compulsively readable series debut. (photos, afterword, sources) (Graphic nonfiction. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews