Booklist: Middle Grade Spies

 

I love the City Spies books - reviewed book 3 yesterday!

It got me thinking of all the other spy middle grade books I've enjoyed:

Pictured:

City Spies by James Ponti

H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs

Bodyguard by Chris Bradford

Double Vision by Fleur Bradley

The Recruit by Robert Muchamore

Mrs. Smith's Spy School for Girls by Beth McMullens 

SureFire by Jack Higgins 

Not Pictured:

Wig and the Window by Kristen Kittscher 

Playing with Fire by Bruce Hale

Alibi Junior High by Gregg Logsted

Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson

Top Ten Tuesday

This week's topic is Top Ten Favorite Books With England Setting. I spent a semester abroad in Bath, England during my junior year in college and LOVED it! I can't wait to go back and I hope I get to go next year. England is always in my heart and I love reading about it. I 'll focus on the teen books and try to create an adult list later in the week.

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish

Courtesy of  www.freeworldmaps.net

Harry Potter series - hands down, part of all time favorite books

The Agency series: Love this series - the spy agency plus the romance

Countess Below Stairs - fantastic book about after the Russian Revolution where a Countess flees and ends up in England working as maid.

Sure Fire: Twins discover a father they've never met is a spy, who gets kidnapped and needs their help.

Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging: best friends, romance, and laughter - lots of laughter

The Season: Regency romance about three girls and their first season (and a potential murder)

Enola Holmes series: Sherlock's sister trying to uncover the mysterious disappearance by her mother and trying to live in London undetected by her brothers.

Bewitching Season: Magic, romance, and a plot to harm the queen

Sorcery and Cecelia: Cousins and best friends write letters to each other sharing details of evil wizards.

Ruby in the Smoke: A favorite from my youth - Sally, a recent orphan, searches for a ruby and clues to the death of her father

Review: First Strike

From their last dangerous encounter a few weeks ago, Jade and Rich have been invited to the White House for a small party. However, before the head for the States, an old friend needs help.

The Chinese government's dealing with a rogue radical party that demands recognition. They'll stop at nothing to get their hands on nuclear weapons.

Chance, Rich, and Jade must travel to China to stop them. They barely escape with the knowledge that the rebels won't get their hands on the warheads. Unfortunately for them, that was plan A.

Plan B comes at them full force when Rich and Jade travel to the States alone and attend the White House party. Once the President arrives at the party , chaos ensues. It becomes clear that this group has friends in high places and they want both the President and his nuclear launch codes. They want to attack the Chinese government in a First Strike. With tensions already high between the two countries, this will almost certainly lead to WWIII.

With most of the secret service members killed protecting the President, things look very grim for those on the inside. Will Rich and Jade become hostages or will they outsmart the rebels?

My Thoughts: I love this series - I love the action, the danger, the thrills, and the sibling dynamic. They're amazingly fun reads that I devour each time a new one comes out. I hand SURE FIRE out all time at the library. It's a great series for boys.

The Cover: Very attractive - but I don't remember Jade and Rich on the tank.

Source: My Library

Created: Sure Fire Book Trailer

I love this series too - lots of action. I didn't realize that Jack Higgins is a pseudonym. I really liked The Eagle has Landed - which I read going through my spy novel phase in high school. I was convinced I wanted to be a spy - even when looking at grad schools, I found a program for a sort of librarian spy school. I was close to going, but...now I just read about spies and watch Jack Bauer.

Yet Another Book Round Up

Philippa's happy to be escaping her father's honeymoon this summer. Instead she'll be working as a nanny for 10 year old twin girls in Maine. She leaves right after the wedding ceremony, before the cake cutting, and before saying goodbye to her father. She's whisked away in a limo to the house/spa where she will spend the next three months. Her limo driver moonlights as the gardener. He's such a hottie that Philippa can see her summer improving already. When she gets to the house, she realizes that she has more in common with her charges that she realized. First of all, they love black and her entire wardrobe contains nothing but black clothes. Secondly they've lost their mother in an accident, just like Philippa. No one talks about their mother's, but Philippa feels a bond and understanding better than their previous nannies. Her biggest challenge is to get the twins to have fun and relax, as they have a strict schedule of lessons and computer time. Philippa takes great pains to make cracks in the serious natures, even if it means taking on other members of the staff.

This book was enchanting and sweet. It pulled at your heartstrings (and I'm not talking about the romance aspect). I loved the twins need for someone to understand them and the nanny advertisement to fit.

Jade and Rich are in trouble again. Just a normal day at their new school, turns into something very dangerous and possibly deadly. The man their father helped make a "death run" (defecting from one side and creating a new identity -sort of the British witness protection program) has been compromised. He's been teaching math at their school and now the school's crawling with goons looking for him. Luckily for him, Jade and Rich have been through the kind of thing before. They're hatching plans of escape for themselves and their fellow classmates while trying to call in the cavalry.

The sequel to Sure Fire is another great ride chock full of action, mystery, and adventure. This book reads like a spy movie, drawing the reader in and not letting go until the very last page. I'm really hoping for more of the twins' adventures.

Sahara discovers that she's pregnant at sixteen. She's devastated and not sure who to tell. She doesn't want her mother to find out, even though she thinks her mom did just fine as a single mom raising two children. She doesn't tell anyone and just lets the knowledge fester inside her until she wants to burst out the news. Meanwhile, she's eating everything in sight, withdrawing from the world, and trying desperately to figure out her options.

Planet Pregnancy is a novel in verse, which is honest view that sucks in readers. It's a fast but meaty read. It's set-up in three parts, for the three trimesters. I really liked the book, but grew irritated over time with rhyming of the poems. While, it gave the book a rhythm, I felt that it also took away from the book where better words could have been chosen.