Brainstorm Vol 74: Thrilling series for Middle Grades

Are you looking for a series to get a middle grader (3rd-8th) absolutely hooked on reading this summer? There’s nothing better than a suspenseful, high action series to get you absorbed in reading. Here are three thrilling series for middle grade readers (or anyone who likes a good thriller).

Masterminds series by Gordon Korman
There are currently two books out in this series, Masterminds and Masterminds: Criminal Destiny. I have only read the first so far, so that’s the one I’ll provide a review for. It was a superbly written and very exciting thriller/mild dystopia. BUT IT ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER!!! I need the next book asap! Ahem. Yes. I'll be ok. Maybe. Book two is a must find this summer, and probably another copy of book one.

Masterminds (#1)
Serenity, NM is a calm and peaceful place. Most people work for the orange traffic cone production factory. No one goes hungry, and in fact, everyone has enough money for their own pools, basketball courts, etc. There's no crime, and honesty is engrained in everyone so much many things, like tests, are done on the honor system. Eli is one of a handful of kids his age in the town. They're all preparing for Serenity Day, the day the town celebrates the founding of this model, crime-free, honesty-based town by FDR in 1934. There will be the yearly water polo game, the presentation of the kids' Serenity projects, a picnic, and fireworks. Everything seems perfect, until Eli's friend Randy convinces him to check out an old car he found outside the city limits. Eli has never set foot outside the town before, he's never really had a reason to. Randy is Eli's best friend, and Randy really wants to show him this old sports car so off they go. But as soon as they get near the town boundary, Eli starts to get very sick. A helicopter full of the Surety, who are in town for protection of the factory and town, appears almost immediately and next thing Eli knows he's waking up at home being told that Randy is moving to his grandparents' house in Colorado. Randy says some strange things in his goodbye to Eli, and eventually Eli figures out Randy's left him a secret goodbye letter. In that, Randy tells him that the whole thing about his grandparents is a lie and the town is shipping him off to a boarding school, and he can't contact Eli even if he wanted to. He warns Eli that there's something strange going on in Serenity. Eli's peers tell him it the letter is just one of Randy's pranks, but when lightning strikes close to Serenity one night while Eli is doing research on the Boston Tea Party the website changes from saying the Boston Tea Party was a peaceful tea party where Britain and the new US negotiated things to something about a protest against the British government and dumping tea into the sea. Eli decides to show his dad Randy's letter, and soon finds himself waking up from being drugged. He catches on, and fakes taking further pills. But Eli is now sure, Randy was on to something, and Eli's own father is in on it as well as other adults he's trusted all his life. Eli and three of his peers start poking around, and what they find out about Serenity will shatter their worlds.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Dystopia Fans: There’s a bit of a dystopian thread in the plot of this story. Which is appropriately ironic since the town is supposed to be a utopia. I can’t tell you too much about the secrets without spoiling things, but suffice it to say they are big. Big enough you could write an adult thriller/dystopia with the same basic plot. Korman keeps things middle grade appropriate though, which is hard with an exciting dystopia, but he pulls it off and does so without readers needing to suspend belief much at all.
• Action/Supsense Fans: I’ve found this to be an easy sell to students. All I have to say is I found it a very exciting book. That I NEED the next book, and they fight over who gets to read it even when I warn them it ends in a horrible cliffhanger. This was added to the library a month before school got out and it hasn’t once made it to sit on the shelves it’s been such a high demand.
• Ethical/Philosophical Issue Thinkers: There’s a big, huge moral/ethical dilemma at the root of the plot that asks some very interesting nature vs nurture questions for those who like those debates.

Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs
There are currently three books out in this series about a kid wrongly recruited to spy school who still manages to survive. A fourth comes out this fall, Spy Ski School.
Stuart Gibbs has an amazing voice for his male middle grade characters. They are just the right mix of insecure, humorous, and real boy. I love following Ben around just as much as I've enjoyed following Teddy Fitzroy around FunJungle. I also really enjoyed the premise of these stories. All the books and movies portray spy training as glamorous and amazing. Ben points out all the pitfalls, and realistically has second thoughts about the glamour of becoming a spy. There's some of the feel of other spy series, like Alex Rider, but this one tones down the more serious content and keeps it solidly a middle grade series that isn't taking itself too serious. Little touches, like having spies drink gatorade (to make sure you stay hydrated and ready for anything) rather than alcohol help make this happen. And the mystery/spy element is done quite well. Each book has kept me guessing till the end but didn't have me so tense I was chewing off all my fingernails.
Here are reviews for the first three books.

Spy School (#1)
Ben Ripley is beyond thrilled when one day he arrives home from school to find a real, live, honest to goodness spy sitting in his living room waiting to whisk him off to spy school. Who wouldn't want to be excited when the US government shows up saying you are top spy material? The debonair agent Alexander Hale waits and feeds Ben's parents a story about Ben winning an elite scholarship to a science school and gains their approval to take Ben away. Ben is super excited, that is until about 2 minutes after stepping on campus and finding people firing very real weapons at him. Within just the first few days of school Ben has been shot at, had a bully threaten him (a certain species he thought he'd escaped when he left normal school), had an assassin try to kill him for information about some super secret program called Pinwheel, and had a ninja knock him out in self defense class for talking out of turn. Oh, and guess what else? Spy training textbooks are just as boring as normal textbooks. Ben is beginning to regret ever coming to spy school, when he starts to uncover a very sinister plot that could threaten a lot more people than just him.

Spy Camp (#2)
Ben Ripley's all excited about spending the summer at home with his family and friends, when the Principal drops a bombshell on him. All spy school students are expected to attend spy camp. He gets one weekend at home and then he'll have to report to Happy Trails camp. But even before he gets to leave for his weekend at home, a note from SPYDER appears informing him that they are coming for him soon. Upon arrival at spy camp, Ben finds another not from SPYDER. Since spy camp isn't secure and SPYDER is gunning for him, the higher ups decide he'd be safer heading out into the middle of nowhere with "Woodchuck" Wallace, the psycho camp leader survival specialist. For cover, a whole group of students is taken out in a bus with Ben and the plan is for him and Woodchuck to slip away from the group to foil SPYDER. But when the bus driver is Alexander Hale and SPYDER is smarter than anyone thinks, you know things are not going to go according to plan, and everyone's in store for one wild spy adventure.

Evil Spy School (#3)
When Ben and his team accidentally load a live mortar during the opening skills test at Spy School and Erica realizes this just in time for Ben to swivel it away from people, Ben kinda sorta blows up the principal's office and gets himself expelled. He isn't back at home for 24 hours before SPYDER comes calling trying to recruit him. Normally, Ben would never consider going to the dark side, but something Erica said as he left spy school makes him think the expulsion was just a cover for him to go into SPYDER as a double agent, and so he accepts. He soon finds himself in a house with fellow agents-in-training Ashley, a former US gymnast who just missed the Olympics cut and has a serious chip on her shoulder, and Nefarious Jones, who seems melded to the gaming system. Things at SPYDER's spy school are pretty much the same as at Ben's old school, only SPYDER's stuff is nicer, and there's the whole evil bent. Eventually Murray shows up and Ben realizes they are getting closer to SPYDER's next big thing. But Ben can't figure out what that thing is. Even though everyone has seemed to have bought his defection to their side, no one has told him anything important. And it's getting more and more important for him to figure out what the enemy is up to before he gets stuck in the middle of their plans and/or caught as a double agent.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Spy Fans: Hand this series to spy fans who aren’t quite ready for more serious and grittier spy adventures. Or who like their spies but just don't like the grittier content. It’s light on the body count, but still plenty exciting.
• Reluctant Readers: The kids who have come in asking for this series are not regular visitors to the library. The exciting adventures draw in even reluctant readers.
• Mystery Fans: Each of Gibbs’ books has some secret to work out or mystery element, and he’s a good mystery writer. These books will keep you on your mental toes.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales written & illustrated by Nathan Hale
Currently there are six books in this graphic novel series covering US history in an exciting and engaging manner. One Dead Spy (#1) covers the American Revolutionary War, Big Bad Ironclad (#2) covers the American Civil War, Donner Dinner Party (#3) relates the tragic Donner expedition, Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood (#4) summarizes WWI, The Underground Abductor (#5) is a biography of Harriet Tubman, and Alamo All-Stars (#6) details the Texan journey from Spanish territory to independent state to part of the US including the infamous Battle of the Alamo.
I hope Nathan Hale continues to make many, many, many more books in this series. They are such a great addition to the book world. It's great when students can accidentally learn things about incredible people while having fun reading. And any books that can convince kids to read about history in their free time are doing something right. Now there are some minor swear words in some of these (pretty much all in actual historic quotes) and death is frequently a component of battles (though the monochromatic color scheme of these helps keep the gore down), so these aren’t for all kids. Most upper elementary and middle school students should be able to handle the content, but some parents may want to preview them first.
Here are reviews of three of my favorites.

One Dead Spy (#1)
Nathan Hale's execution for being a spy in the Revolutionary War is postponed while he and the executioner wait for the official orders. While waiting, the gallows turns into a giant history book that swallows Hale and spits him back out with the knowledge of all history past and future. The executioner and British soldier are dubious, but they are soon won over as Hale regales them with the tale of how he ended up caught as a spy and how the war will turn out.

This book focuses on the Revolutionary War from the perspective of the historic Nathan Hale (not the author of the same name), and thus, the battles he was mostly involved in. Along the way, readers also get to know Henry Knox, Ethan Allen, Ben Tallmadge, George Washington, Thomas Knowlton, Major Robert Rodgers, and a short postscript story about Crispus Attucks. Hale knows a way to make history come alive like few others. He manages to make things funny and entertaining, and thus very memorable. Readers will come away from this with a much better understanding of the Battles in Boston and New York City. I really appreciate the bibliographic material provided which explains where the author took some creative license because details are hard to find. I also appreciate it because I think I am going to have to hunt down some of the ones on Henry Knox. That guy is a hilarious character in this book, and I want to know more about him. Also, I have a fairly good grasp of history, but I did not remember the part about Washington getting his forces to construct a fort that would "magically" appear over night. Hale unwinds that tale quite entertainingly.

Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood (#4)
Nathan Hale, the Provost, and the Hangman are back for another tale from their future (our past). This time, they demand a tale of war...with animals and a touch of humor to lighten up the grim facts. So Nathan Hale gives a broad sweeping overview of the Great War with different animals representing each country. Due to the grand scheme of the tale, Hale only focuses on the main things that led to war and the most important battles.

As Hale has the characters mention during the story and the bibliography, covering an entire war that spanned the globe in one book is a rather daunting task. It was impossible to cover all the details, but I felt Hale did a good job covering the highlights and giving a satisfactory broad overview. In fact, it probably does a better job of covering WWI than most textbooks, and I know it does so in a much more entertaining and memorable way. I liked the usage of different animals to represent different countries, because it definitely helped make it easier to see who was involved where and when. I also liked that every once in a while Hale would insert true-to-life illustrations of important people minus their animal facade to remind readers that this was a real person.

The Underground Abductor (#5)
Nathan Hale (the historic character), the executioner, and the British soldier this time regale readers with the story of Araminta Ross, aka Harriet Tubman. Ok, really Nathan Hale tells us all about this amazing woman who overcame personal hardship, escaped slavery, didn't rest in her safety but helped dozens of other slaves obtain freedom, and as if that weren't enough, also helped serve as a spy for the North in the American Civil War. As usual, the executioner and British soldier provide comedic side notes as Hale spins the tale.

I've heard about Harriet Tubman in history classes throughout my student years and even taught about her as a teacher, but I still learned several things from this book that I never knew about her before. A fantastic biography!

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Fiction Addicts: I know there are those readers out there who won’t touch nonfiction without a serious bribe or grade attached. (I confess this has been my attitude for much of my life.) This series just may convince them that nonfiction doesn’t have to be boring.
• Graphic Novel Fans: It won’t take any persuading to get graphic novel fans to read these.
• Action/Humor Fans: Hale makes sure to incorporate lots of high action and hilarious moments in these books.
• Reluctant Readers: It isn’t hard to convince kids to give one of these a try. I mean, it's a graphic novel, and by the time you try a few pages you're pretty much hooked (and a good portion of the way through the short book) so why not finish and try the next one?
• Struggling History Students: These books can make tricky moments of history much easier to understand. Hand this to the kid who is supposed to make heads and tales of WWI or the conflicts in Texas. I guarantee they’ll better understand what went on after reading Hale’s rendition of history.