“The Man With The Plan,” Griffin Bing, and his 12-year-old fix-it clique have graduated to Cedarville Middle School, and the new principal is a total nightmare. A former high-school football coach, Dr. Egan (aka Dr. Evil) makes the whole school exercise instead of having homeroom, and he warns Griffin he’s fully aware of the boy’s nearly illegal activities past. When Griffin’s errant retainer is discovered in a locked display case in place of the Super Bowl ring of a former student, Griffin is sent to JFK (jail for kids) Alternative Education Center while the case works its way through courts. Griffin and his friends know he’s innocent—but unfortunately the man with the plan’s plans have the usual result: Everyone gets in more trouble. Griffin’s suddenly under house arrest, and the other kids have to use their specialized skills to find the real thief before he’s sent further up the river. Korman’s third caper starring Griffin & Co. features some conclusion-jumping that would do Inspector Clouseau proud as well as plenty of improbable adult reactions…but it’s just as goofball-funny and addictive as the previous two (Zoobreak, 2009, etc.). (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-17849-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
A mysterious game that is unfortunately not that much fun to play.
Twelve-year-old Steve is thrilled when his enigmatic grandfather announces it is finally his turn to take a trip, but camping on a remote lake in northern Ontario seems pretty lame compared to his twin brother’s epic adventure in Central America.
The run-down cabin and meager amenities do little to improve Steve’s outlook. But when his grandfather reveals the real reason for their trip—solving the mystery of a famous artist’s missing skull—things definitely start looking up. Drawing upon the knowledge he has gleaned from reading mystery novels, Steve tries to piece together the clues. But the game takes a dark turn when his grandfather is kidnapped and strangers threaten him at gunpoint. Steve is brave, even risking his life to save his grandfather, but the mystery proves too difficult to solve. In fact, the meandering plot and random events may stump even the most resourceful sleuth. The reveal at the end exposes the reason: the game was constantly in flux. Featuring an all-white cast judging by the absence of markers to the contrary, this is one of a series of seven novels all published simultaneously and written by different authors; readers will hope the others are a bit more definitive.
A mysterious game that is unfortunately not that much fun to play. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1158-4
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
The fight choreography needs work but otherwise, a promising debut and series opener.
An English schoolboy hones both wits and breaking-and-entering skills after the family butler enlists him for a series of dangerous secret missions.
Oliver, 12-year-old scion of the head of Diplexito Engineering and Combustibles Ltd., is stunned to learn that the forbidding Mr. Scant is a mysterious burglar popularly known as the Ruminating Claw—for the bladed mechanical contraption he wears on one hand. This revelation is followed by mounting excitement as the white lad learns that Scant is really engaged in returning artifacts stolen from various museums by a secret group of would-be mages known as the Woodhouselee Society. Better yet, Scant wants him along to help! Ensuing nighttime outings to the British Museum and elsewhere give Oliver not only an eyeful of awesome martial feats from Scant, but heartening tests of his own previously untried courage as dust-ups with baddies led by cleaver-wielding giantess Valkyrie build to a climactic imbroglio featuring dirigibles (this is 1910, with some alterations) and a heavily armed “land ironclad.” A last-minute ally named Cai Zhao-Ji and some of the aforementioned bad guys, who belong to the Asian Tri-Loom crime syndicate, are the only characters of color. Methods’ fights are the sort in which there’s always time for dialogue, combatants don’t die or even bleed when they’re wounded, and the deadliest adversary abruptly withers under a good scolding.
The fight choreography needs work but otherwise, a promising debut and series opener. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5124-0579-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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