A suspenseful, multifaceted puzzler with a savvy girl sleuth.
Mabel tries to “be in control,” “trust her instincts,” and “anticipate surprises” after her secret-agent parents disappear.
A “curious, brave, and clever” (almost) 11-year-old white girl, Mabel lives near Mount Rainier in Washington, where her mother operates an antique-spoon museum. When her parents are away on secret missions for the Agency, Mabel’s aunt Gertie acts as her guardian. As soon as Mabel’s parents leave on another mission, her long-lost greedy uncle, his obnoxious wife, and their meddling daughter unexpectedly descend under the auspices of watching over Mabel because Aunt Gertie’s been falsely arrested. Taking control of Mabel’s house and life, they clearly want the museum as well. Meanwhile, duplicitous Inspector Montgomery accuses Mabel’s parents of international smuggling and interrogates her about a mysterious red suitcase. Learning from the Agency her parents are indeed missing and uncertain whom she can trust, Mabel follows her Rules for a Successful Life as an Undercover Secret Agent (reproduced in full in the backmatter) as she tackles each surprising element of the case. Mabel’s first-person narration reveals a clearheaded and resourceful but lonely and somewhat resentful girl whose efforts to protect her parents’ secrets deny her the normal social life she deserves.
A suspenseful, multifaceted puzzler with a savvy girl sleuth. (author’s note) (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62370-805-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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