The Montgolfier brothers, Etienne and Joseph, were eighteenth century French paper manufacturers who became known for their invention and flight of the first piloted hot air balloon.

On 19 September 1783, the Aérostat Réveillon was flown with the first living beings in a basket attached to the balloon: a sheep called Montauciel (“Climb-to-the-sky”), a duck and a rooster. The sheep was believed to have a reasonable approximation of human physiology. The duck was expected to be unharmed by being lifted and was included as a control for effects created by the aircraft rather than the altitude. The rooster was included as a further control as it was a bird that did not fly at high altitudes. The demonstration was performed at the royal palace in Versailles, before King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette and a crowd. The flight lasted approximately eight minutes, covered two miles (3 km), and obtained an altitude of about 1,500 feet (460 m). The craft landed safely after flying.

Sky Chasers is a fictional account of this wonderful accomplishment of the Montgolfiers, featuring a young thief called Magpie who manages to help the Montgolfiers with their invention despite her low social class and her female gender. Girls and orphaned, homeless pickpockets were not expected to be of much use or intelligence in eighteenth century France, just as they are not very respected in this day and time. Perhaps the gulf between classes and between boys and girls was much wider back in the 1700’s than it is today, but Ms. Carroll is writing a story for middle grade readers, not for adults. In this story Magpie finds a home and finds success and respect in spite of all the obstacles that are stacked against her.

I found this book to be an engaging and informative piece of historical fiction about a little known incident and time of history. Almost all I know about Louis XVI and Marie Antionette is their ignominious end, so it was interesting to see them in a different setting, before the revolution while they were still giddy and gay and pompous and entitled. Magpie learns whom to trust and whom to distrust and how to take advantage of the God-given abilities that she has been blessed to enjoy. Particularly if you’re interested in the history of flight or of hot air balloons or of invention or of eighteenth century France, this novel would be a light-hearted but thoughtful addition to your reading life.