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Gibbs, Stuart
16 Reviews
(3)
4-6
Spy-in-training Ben is sent to Mexico to find the evil organization SPYDER's temporary headquarters. But best-laid plans are blown up along with the plane Ben flies in on. The junior agents turn a Mexican resort upside-down, using everything from spear guns to parasailing gear to thwart SPYDER. This sixth Spy School installment navigates both espionage action and a middle-school love triangle with humor.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
Moon colonist Dash (Space Case; Spaced Out) just wants to enjoy his thirteenth birthday when he's caught up investigating who tried to poison trillionaire Lars Sjoberg. Soon the Moonies are faced with an even bigger problem when their air recycling unit begins to fail. Realistic details of lunar living play nicely against Dash's lively sleuthing in this third Moon Base Alpha mystery.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
FunJungle series.
In this follow-up to Big Game, FunJungle Wild Animal Park is abuzz about a new panda--until the truck arrives minus the animal and its escort. As usual, Teddy ends up in the thick of the investigation. Well-researched and cinematically paced, this mystery-romp is only more enjoyable for the improbability that a thirteen-year-old is repeatedly smarter than the adults involved.
Reviewer: David Elzey
(3)
4-6
Undercover in the White House, thirteen-year-old spy Ben Ripley saves the president from a bomb--but it looks like he was the assassin! With old allies seemingly turned against him, Ben needs to clear his own name and uncover the real villain. This fifth Spy School book has an exciting whodunit plot with the right level of complexity and lots of action.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
Just when Dash (Space Case) thinks things on Moon Base Alpha are getting back to normal (read: boring), the base commander goes missing. With help from his secret alien friend, Zan, Dash is determined to find the commander--after all, the base is the size of a soccer field! Realistic scientific details of lunar living make the mystery's unusual setting feel credible.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
The CIA has asked espionage student Ben Ripley to befriend Jessica, daughter of Chinese crime boss Leo Shang, during their Rocky Mountain ski trip. Skiing in Vail and flirting with the pretty Jessica seems like a cushy assignment--until Ben's best friend arrives and threatens to blow his cover. Like the other Spy School books, this fourth installment is packed with humor and action.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
What do you do when you get kicked out of a top-secret CIA training school? When Ben Ripley (Spy Camp) gets expelled for blowing up the principal's office, top-secret evil organization SPYDER wastes no time recruiting him. Ben doesn't really want to be evil, but perhaps there's a chance to take down SPYDER from the inside. Ben's humorous voice complements a swift pace.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(4)
4-6
After FunJungle Wild Animal Park's pregnant rhinoceros is targeted by a hunter, twelve-year-old Teddy agrees (not entirely voluntarily) to help nab the poacher. Hunting-related facts and details get too much attention in this third installment, and there's less of the slapstick silliness that made Belly Up and Poached so laugh-out-loud funny. That said, tricky red herrings make for a twisty-turny whodunit.
Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger
(3)
4-6
In Belly Up's sequel, twelve-year-old Teddy contends with bullies at school. At FunJungle, the zoo where he lives with his primatologist mother and wildlife-photographer father, things are even worse: Teddy's the prime suspect in a koala kidnapping. Gibbs weaves interesting trivia (newborn koalas are jellybean-size) and plenty of humor (a poop-throwing chimp helps ID an industrial spy/saboteur) into his action-packed mystery.
Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger
(3)
4-6
Life is pretty weird living in the moon's first colony. But it gets weirder fast when a scientist turns up dead. Twelve-year-old Dash is determined to solve the mystery, whether or not anyone else believes it was murder. Details about the logistics of everyday life functions, such as eating and exercise, make the lunar setting fully realized, and the mystery is tightly paced.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
After escaping assassination by the top-secret organization SPYDER, Ben Ripley (Spy School) is looking forward to chilling out this summer. But SPYDER is turning up the heat, insisting that Ben come to work for them. Gorgeous fellow-spy-in-training Erica is ready to help, and her legendary grandfather also appears on the scene. Clever descriptions and plot twists make this a top-notch summer read.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
Readers who've already accepted Greg's time travel and easy embodiment of Three Musketeers character D'Artagnan will find the same accessibility in this seventeenth-century adventure set in France. Greg and the Musketeers foil duplicitous Milady and save young Louis XIII's throne. Like the previous installments, this third book spells out differences between eras, making it well-suited for new time-travel fans.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax
(3)
4-6
Time traveler Greg-as-D'Artagnan is still stuck in 1615; he and the young Musketeers follow evil Bastille-escapee Michel Dinicoeur to Spain to stop him from calamitously changing history. Meanwhile, they're unsure whom to trust along the way. This accessible, rollicking escapade requires some familiarity with the first installment but not with the original Three Musketeers.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax
(3)
4-6
Twelve-year-old Ben Ripley thought living at a top-secret spy school would be super cool, but the classes are boring, the food is atrocious, and, worst of all, he's being used as bait. He's got to find a mole in the organization while keeping his cool in front of the girls. Funny and suspenseful, this book is perfectly pitched for middle-grader and tween boys.
Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay
(3)
4-6
When an immortal villain transports Greg and his parents to seventeenth-century Paris, Greg--alias D'Artagnan--meets the young men who will become the Three Musketeers. It takes their combined skills and courage to rescue Greg's parents from the Bastille. This entertaining time-travel adventure references its source material with enough detail to stand alone.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax
(3)
4-6
Twelve-year-old Teddy is in heaven living with his gorilla-researcher mom and wildlife-photographer dad at the world's largest zoo. When the zoo's hippo mascot is murdered, Teddy not only wants to solve the mystery but also discover why no one else seems to care. Gibbs writes with absurdist humor and seemingly an insider's knowledge of how zoos operate.
Reviewer: David Elzey
16 reviews
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