Middle Grade Fun Pick: City Spies

City Spies
Book 1
by James Ponti
Aladdin
2020
384 pages
ISBN: 9781534414914

Slick, clever and fun, City Spies is a dynamic new series opener by James Ponti.

Sara Martinez is a computer genius who can hack into any site. Usually, Sara doesn't cause any trouble. She only hacked the New York foster care database to report on the latest of her foster homes. She gets caught, and now awaits court. Enter a stranger who claims to be her lawyer.

He is an enigma and clearly (at least to Sara) NOT a lawyer. Sara agrees to work with this man in order to gain her freedom. The judge agrees for him to take Sara into custody, and he spirits her off to Scotland to meet his team of teen spies. Sara's savior is an MI6 agent who goes by the name "Mother." He has recruited kids from all over the world to train at FARM: The Foundation for Atmospheric Research and Monitoring, which is cover for  covert operations and tons of satellite feeds. Mother has a few enemies of his own (what did you expect from a career MI6 agent?)

Sara meets the team, each nicknamed for the city Mother found them in: Rio, Sydney, Paris and Kat. Each teen has skills that will be useful on any spy team. Sara, now named Brooklyn, is the team's computer genius. The team does several training drills before Mother tells them what their mission is: keep billionaire philanthropist Stavros Sinclair safe during a global youth summit. Everyone has a reason to be there, even the bad guys.

Sara is an engaging character who will resonate with readers. Fans of this book will probably follow the next books in the series. Ponti tells a smart story with enough high stakes details to engage middle grade kids.

Recommended grade 5 and up.

Adventure Pick

Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider series, book 8)

by Anthony Horowitz

Philomel Books (Penguin), 2009.

385 pages

It's been ten years and eight books since Anthony Horowitz introduced the world to Alex Rider, teen spy. MI6, Britain's intelligence agency, has been using Alex since the death of his uncle who was, in fact, one of their top spies. Alex learned to drive motorcycles and fast cars and learned hand-to-hand combat and martial arts under his uncle's tutelege. This makes him the perfect fit for MI6. Another reason the agency loves him--no bad guys would ever suspect a 15 year old school boy as a spy.

Crocodile Tears is energetic, thrilling, and a taut adventure. An ex-con brilliant madman turned billionaire who has convinced the world that he is a man of God, Desmond McCain, runs an international charity named First Aid. Using this charity, McCain collects millions of dollars from wealthy nations who channel it to his charity to sites of international tragedy. First a nuclear accident happens in India and then a planned famine in Africa. McCain causes each tragedy to happen and then uses his charity to make billions for himself. His ego-maniacal view of the world makes him dangerous to everyone, especially Alex, when he stumbles upon McCain's plans to infect millions of people and animals in Africa with a genetically infected wheat.

Readers who enjoy espionage, terror, and adventure will like this books. Fans of earlier Alex books will like this one. Recommended for YA collections grades 5-up. Suitable for high school adventure and espionage readers.