review

The 39 Clues: The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis Review

April 7, 2014 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

Note: This post was originally written in March, 2012.

Recently, Scholastic released the newest book in the explosive The 39 Clues action series, The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis. This has long been one of my all-time favorite kids series, and I usually finish the book the very day it comes out.

For those who don’t know, The 39 Clues is a series about two kids, Amy (14) and Dan (11) Cahill, who realize they’re part of the most powerful family in the world, the Cahill clan, at their Grandmother Grace’s funeral.

The source of the family’s power is hidden in the form of 39 special clues, which will make whoever finds them the most powerful family in human history. Of course, Amy and Dan aren’t the only ones who want the clues. Their vicious relatives will do anything to find them first.

Click here to find out more about The 39 Clues

Summary

At the end of the last book, Dan got a text from his father (Arthur Trent), who was long presumed to be dead in the fire that destroyed their old home. Dan doesn’t know what to make of it, but he’s worried his dad may be working for the Vespers (or even be Vesper 1).

Atticus Rosenbloom (Dan’s best friend) was kidnapped by the Vespers). Not only is he a super genius, but his mother (now deceased) was a Guardian, a group that has worked with the Madrigal’s to guard secrets for years, although Atticus (11) doesn’t know what it is he’s guarding.

The Vespers are ruled by a Council of Six, headed by Vesper One (whose identity is currently a secret). In each book he sends them on a task, and threatens to kill one of the hostages if they’re late. Because they withheld information from Vesper One, Atticus was kidnapped.

They want information from Atticus, but he doesn’t have it. He only just found out he’s a Guardian in the last few days, but if he doesn’t do something, they’re going to kill him. Will Atticus’s cunning allow Amy and Dan to save him?

This time they travel to Samarkand, Uzbekistan (the oldest city in Central Asia) in search of “stale orbs” at the prodding of Vesper One, bringing Atticus and Jake along to ensure nothing happens to him again.

Amy and Dan are in search of the planetary work of Ulugh Beg meaning “Great Ruler” (his real name was Mīrzā Mohammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrokh), a revolutionary mathematician and astronomer, who had a huge observatory and plotted the course’s of stars and planets extremely precisely.

In addition, just as Lerangis played up the romance between Amy and Ian in Book Three (many avid readers are still on “Team Amian”), he hints at Amy liking Jake-already spurring “Team Jamy.” To compound things, Amy already has a boyfriend, Evan Tolliver, who is working with the Cahills because of his technological knowledge.

Vesper Five is also revealed as Interpol continues their attempts to catch Amy and Dan. Ian goes off the map, in search of a connection between the Vespers and the Lucian’s.

Meanwhile, the hostages try to escape. It was all Phoenix Wizard’s idea, but it backfires heavily.

On the good side, Amy and Dan request a picture, and a reptile crawls in while it’s being taken. Nellie gets a crazy idea that gives the Cahills an idea to where the hostages are being held. And it points straight to where they have tracked Ian.

Amy and Dan learn that McIntyre (their Grandmother’s lawyer and top Madrigal agent) died, and more texts from the man identifying himself as Arthur Trent come in. What is the connection between Amy and Dam’s father and McIntyre perishing? And what is the real identity of the mysterious texter?

Review

I wasn’t actually expecting this book to be too good, but it exceeded my expectations. I thought The Sword Thief was the weakest and worst written of all the books in the series, and I didn’t like The Vipers Nest much either. This book, however, was great.

As usual in the series, this book paints a good historical picture, sprinkling in all sorts of historical details. It’s 190 pages with small pages and average text, so it’s not a long read, meant for ages 8-14.

In this book, the action scenes were pulled off spectacularly, and by no means was the writing too relaxed (the main problem in earlier books by Lerangis). He also managed to retain funny moments, as well. This is definitely more reminiscent of the previous series, and might be the best book in the Cahills vs. Vespers so far.

If you haven’t read the previous books yet, I’d recommend starting with the first book in the Cahills vs Vespers series. If you have, this book is a great addition to the series.

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Animal Farm by George Orwell Review

January 13, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 3 Comments

There sometimes comes along a book that influences people’s perspectives, that makes its mark politically and in society. Rare is it that one author has two books, but the great writer George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm. The latter is what I will be reviewing today.

Animal Farm is a small book, but tells a full story of revolution and corruption, patterned after the story of the Soviet Revolution. The animals in the farm are unhappy with how their owner is treating them, and thus, inspired by a vision of a wise horse called Old Major, start a revolution. Animals starting a revolution? But banding together, they manage to drive their owners out, taking control of the farm for themselves.

They have to do hard work, but it’s great now because they are free, enjoying the fruit of their own work, not doing it for any humans. The pigs assume the leadership, but Napoleon and his adversary Snowball always disagree on everything and it can only be decided on by a majority vote. Everyone lives in harmony and happiness. The old owner of the farm attempts to reclaim it, but the animals are dedicated, and heroic acts manage to drive them out.

A big fight breaks out about the building of a tower. One of the pigs says it will be good and will reduce the work to 3 days a week. Naturally, the other pig opposes it – citing as a reason that they have the upcoming harvest and need to work on that. Snowball, the one in favor of the tower wins out among the populace, but he is not as crafty as Napoleon, who trains several puppies into vicious dogs and sicks them on Snowball, driving out of the farm.

After that, Napoleon becomes more and more corrupt. The majority of the animals are illiterate, stupid, and trust Napoleon. Originally there had been a list of commandments in the barn, and Napoleon continually changes them (such as allowing animals to drink, sleep in beds, and, eventually, stand on two legs). When anyone questions it, the change is attributed merely to their bad memory. Everything that goes wrong is blamed on Snowball.

Napoleon decides that the building of the tower is a good idea after all, explaining his change by saying that it was his idea in the first place and Snowball had stolen it from it. It keeps getting knocked down and is never completed, however. Napoleon has them work harder and harder and get less and less food. They do not believe conditions are getting worse because of the lies Napoleon’s spokesman, Whymper, who claims that productions of all food is going up and they just don’t remember what it used to be like. At the end of the book it is revealed the animals on Animal Farm do more work and get less food than any other farm in the country.

They also kill many animals, claiming them to be Snowball’s accomplices. Before long, what was established as a free civilization after a revolution against humans leds to a leadership that is worst than the first. Near the end of the book, the pigs come out standing on two legs. The sheep have always bleated: “Four legs good, two legs bad,” but as the pigs come out, they now sing: “Four legs good, two legs better.” The pigs have quickly turned into semi-human, even sitting down with humans and playing card games with them.

What the book is supposed to represent is how corruption grows and relies on a stupid populace and manipulates them. This happened in many socialist societies at the time the book was first published, and serves as a warning. Although of course humans are smarter than the animals and would not be fooled so easily, the pigs (or the leaders) would also be smarter too. This book is based off the Soviet revolution and the consequent slavery that occurred among the people.

I think the book is a little bit of a stretch, but it is still intriguing. Although people like to draw parallel’s to today’s society, I do not support such views, but it rather serves more as a warning. My mind was a little messed up after reading it, but not too bad. It’s a fun book to read. One thing is that in animal nature their animal instinct for food would probably trump anything Napoleon told them, but it’s really an allegory.

At 97 pages, it’s a small book, but it contains a lot of ideas and actions and cannot really be described as short. His writing style is good and factual, which is why it’s called a fairy tale (as explained in the Introduction). It is definitely a book written for its time and a time that could come again. One of the reasons we don’t have to worry about such things today is because of books like this.

Overall, it’s a good book to read and I’d recommend taking a look at it, for the entertainment value but mainly for the educational information about socialism.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also join my FaceBook Fan Page get email updates for more book reviews below.

Hideout by Gordon Korman Review

January 3, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 4 Comments

Hideout by Gordon Korman is the fifth and latest book in the super popular Swindle Series. Gordon Korman is one of my favorite authors and a very accomplished one, having over 75 titles to his name. In fact, the book Swindle was recently turned into a movie by Nickelodeon.

In Hideout, Korman continues the Swindle Series with another exciting adventure. In the first book, Griffin Bing and his friends confronted an unethical man they nickname “Swindle” who stole a $1.2 million baseball card from them.

After exposing Swindle and ruining his shop, they also take his guard dog, Luthor. Luthor is a vicious dog, but Griffin’s friend Savannah is practically an animal whisperer and becomes good friends with him.

Here is my video review

In this book, Swindle is back, and he wants to take possession of his dog. Of course, Savannah isn’t about to let that happen. During this book the kids are away for summer camp, and they have to coordinate an extremely complicated series of plans in order to keep Swindle’s hired goons from taking back the dog. Who better to coordinate it than Griffin Bing, the “Man with the Plan.”

Griffin and his friends are all stationed at three different summer camps. Swindle sends his goons after each one, and they have to hide the dog from both the attackers and the rest of the camp. The book is divided into three different sections or hideouts, each one during the time when Luthor is at their respective camp.

The book starts off with Luthor going with Griffin and Savannah to Camp Ebony Lake. After their location is compromised, they switch the dog off to Melissa and Logan. Melissa joined the group because of her impressive computer skills, and Logan because he’s a good actor.

They eventually hand Luthor to Pitch and Ben. Pitch is a great climber, and Ben is the small spaces guy and Griffin’s best friend. Each member of the gang has their own speciality which allows them to work well together as a team.

This is far from a serious book throughout. Although they are being chased by a criminal, they book is interspersed with the fun personalities of each of the characters and tons of humor. The ending, where Swindle and his goons confront Griffin and his gang, is a hilarious and captivating tale.

This is a very well written book and another great addition to the series. It’s hard to keep coming up with hit stand-alone books when you reach the fifth book in a series with the same characters. Korman manages to do it, however.

Honestly, though, I’m not too excited for the next book in the series, Jackpot. If I was Korman, I would end it right now, because I feel like it’s starting to get a little long in the tooth. How many times can you get excited reading about the same kids having some variation of basically the same adventure?

Still, that does not detract from the strength of this book. I’d highly recommend for preteens (around 9-12) to read it. Notice the excellent reviews on Amazon. There is literally not a single person who says they or their children did not like the book. Korman’s books are guaranteed to be kid pleasers, and this book is no exception.

Before reading this book, though, I’d recommend reading Swindle. Although it’s not necessary to understand and enjoy the story, it helps a lot to understand the conflict. Plus, Swindle is an amazing book.

Overall, there’s really not much criticism I can give this book. For the majority of his career, Gordon Korman was a writer of humorous books. It was only in the late 90’s that he switched over to reading action/adventure. I feel like now he’s managed to merge these two styles together to create a suspenseful but hilarious book. This is classic Korman at his best.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link . You can also like my Facebook page or subscribe through email below.

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman: Review

April 18, 2012 by Daniel Johnston 8 Comments

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman is the second book in the Swindle series, immediately following the wildly popular inaugural book Swindle. In Swindle, the main character Griffin Bing and his best friend, Ben Slovak, stumble upon a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card while sleeping in an abandoned old house that’s about to be knocked down the next morning. Griffin’s family is having financial problems, and he doesn’t know much about baseball cards, but an original 1920 Babe Ruth in mint condition has to be a lot of money. So they take it a collector to see if it’s worth anything and the guy (S. Wendell Palomino, nicknamed Swindle) lies that it’s just a cheap knockoff and buys it for a pittance. It turns out the card is worth $974,000. What the guy did is unethical, it’s sleazy, but there’s no way to prove he lied. Swindle is going to get away with it.

But Griffin is the Man with the Plan, and he and his team of friends come up with a plan to steal the card back. It’s a very exciting and action-packed book, and one I highly recommend.

So what did Gordon do to follow up on that success? He wrote Zoobreak, a book that expands on the theme of kids fighting against unfairness by taking matters into their own hands. In Swindle, there was a million dollar baseball card. In Zoobreak, there’s Savannah’s pet monkey. Savannah’s animal has been stolen, and she is simply not going to stand for that. To make matters right, Griffin Bing will have to pull off his wildest caper yet.

It is helpful to note that these books can be read in any order. While I would advise beginning with the first book, it is possible to pick up the series anywhere.

Summary

As mentioned above, Savannah’s monkey Cleopatra is stolen. When her dog Luthor goes looking and comes back with a banana, she is certain the animal was kidnapped. But that’s not evidence she can hand over to the police.

To make matters worse, Griffin’s best friend Ben Slovak has narcolepsy, a disease which makes him susceptible to falling asleep at any time of the day. And his condition is getting worse. His parents are getting ready to send him away to a boarding school where he can get help, which would be an obvious catastrophe. Even though Griffin’s dad tries to convince him this is the best thing for Ben, Griffin knows the only reason Ben is going is because he’s a kid, and his parents want him to go. Unfortunately, solving narcolepsy is not one of the skills of The Man with the Plan.

Later on when Savannah locates her monkey at a flying zoo, she is livid. But she has no proof the monkey is hers. Savannah is sure of it, and her prowess with animals is so well-known that most everyone is willing to accept it as true. Still, to get the DNA testing would take a year and cost a lot of money. With the way this zoo treats their animals, there’s reason to suspect Cleo will not even survive that long. But Savannah is forced to leave her monkey there. There’s nothing she can do.

But where other people see closed doors, The Man with the Plan only sees opportunity. That zoo stole Savannah’s monkey, and just like they took back the million dollar baseball card in Swindle, this time they’re taking back something even more valuable. But every good planner knows that no plan can fit every situation, and there’s definitely no way to anticipate the insane situation these characters find themselves in.

Review

This book is 230 pages with large font, written for kids around the age of 9-14. The writing is very good and the book is fast-paced and exciting as is usual with this series.

This is a great book, with Griffin and his friends being firmly committed to taking down the vicious animal thief by whatever means necessary. The team certainly makes good on Griffin’s stated goal of standing up to unfairness in this one.

Click here to buy the book Zoobreak by Gordon Korman. You can also check out my Facebook Page or subscribe via email below for more book reviews.

Framed by Gordon Korman (Swindle Series): Review

April 11, 2012 by Daniel Johnston 4 Comments

Framed is the third edition in the popular Swindle series written by best-selling author Gordon Korman, one of my personal favorite authors. This series features Griffin Bing (the main character) and their gang of friends. In Swindle, the inaugural book, Griffin and his best friend Ben Slovak discover a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card while sleeping in abandoned old house that’s about to be knocked down. They take it to a collector to see if maybe it will solve Griffin’s financial problems, but the appraiser (S. Wendell Palomino, nicknaked Swindle) tells them that it’s just a cheap knockoff and buys it for $120. But actually, it’s worth $974,000. The only way to get the card is to steal it back.

After Zoobreak (which was an excellent continuation of the spirit of the first book), Framed is a another great entry that keeps the series rolling. In this book, Griffin and his friends go to a middle school with a principal (Dr. Egan; nicknamed Dr. Evil) who hates them because of their past. Griffin wants to get back at him, but after being threatened by the police at the end of Zoobreak, none of the team is eager to try another “plan.”

Note: These books can be read in any order. While I always recommend starting at the beginning, it is by no means necessary, as the plots are independent to each book.

Below is a video trailer for Framed made by Scholastic.

Summary

A 1968 Jets super bowl ring mysteriously disappears from the school. And Griffin’s retainer (which he had previously lost) is found right in the case where the ring used to be! Griffin didn’t do it, but to Dr. Egan and the police the evidence is pretty compelling. Judge Koretsky, who is assigned to his case, also does not buy his story and banishes him to the John F. Kennedy Alternative Education Center (JFK), infamously known as “Jail for Kids.”

Griffin and his friends pick several suspects: Darren Vader (a money lover and a member of the Swindle and Zoobreak teams), Cecilia White (a newspaper columnist who is trying to call attention to Griffin’s plots), Dr. Egan, and a kid by the name of Tony Bartholomew who is related to Art Blankenship (the former owner of the ring) and wants to grab it for himself. But his sting operation doesn’t go as planned, and Judge Koretsky confines him to house arrest.

Griffin is determined to unmask the identity of the scoundrel who’s framing him. Griffin’s parents are distraught as they know he lost his retainer earlier and wasn’t guilty, but begin to lose their patience when Griffin’s sting operations start to land him in more trouble. Griffin’s spirits sink lower as he is kept away from his friends and things are showing no sign of getting better. To smoke out the thief and drop the fallacious charges levied against him it will take a truly spectacular solution.

Review

This book is 234 pages with large font, meant for kids in the age group of 9-14. The writing is very good and the book is fast-paced and exciting as is typical with Korman books.

His books frequently put his characters in interesting situations and in no way fall into any kind of the preachiness that has plagued kids books for so long. Instead Korman prefers smart characters who are never afraid to take action to get whatever it is they want. A recurrent theme of the Swindle series is kids fighting against unfairness by taking matters into their own hands, and this book executes that theme in excellent fashion. It is very fast-paced and exciting, with constant plans and movement from the characters. The ending is a little bit unconnected to the rest of the book, but it is one that you definitely will not be able to guess.

This book captures the excitement of the original book and is highly recommended. Click here to buy the book Framed by Gordon Korman.