A third series installment that offers compelling storytelling with emotional depth and chilling suspense.
In Downing and Waugh’s latest middle-grade series entry, an American boy attempts to rescue his father, who is being held by the Nazis in 1930s Germany.
This ever-expanding, wild odyssey of suspense is deftly grounded in early-20th-century American history and a well-calibrated orphan-in-peril vibe. Exploding Experiment (2023) introduced Lewis Carter, a bespectacled, asthmatic, then-11-year-old boy, left homeless in 1930s Pittsburgh after his chemist father’s mysterious apparent death. Using his dad’s secret “recipe” for an explosive but harmless substance, he survived by stealing food for himself and ragtag fellow street kids. Newspapers and police called them “The Flash Gang,” and assumed they were adults; then, real evildoers came after them. In Treasonous Tycoon (2024), Lewis and his best friend, brave Pearl, experience Pittsburgh’s deadly flood of 1936, and fight mobsters, corrupt moguls, and Nazi sympathizers. Now, in this third entry, Lewis’ father is apparently imprisoned in Adolf Hitler’s Berlin (before the start of World War II), and Lewis and Pearl embark on a rescue mission. Thanks to an attaché working for Pearl’s despised but rich absentee father, the pair cross the Atlantic, going first-class on an ocean liner with everything necessary to get in and out of Berlin. However, they wonder why the attaché is so helpful, and they also later puzzle over why a particular doddering old lady won’t leave them alone. Is the American singer (with a French stage name) they meet as nice as he appears? And is it a coincidence that a suspect watch repairman is on the ship, too?
Readers who are familiar with the series will correctly surmise that things don’t go smoothly for Lewis and Pearl once they reach Nazi-controlled Berlin. However, just how completely and quickly their luck changes darkens the plot with a notable and palpable sense of unease—one that is only heightened by the pervasive menace of Hitler’s brownshirts and SS officers. At one point, Lewis has a vicious encounter with some members of the Hitler Youth. Such chaos and hate seem to contradict the outwardly orderly world that the pair must navigate: “I don’t understand why nobody cares!” Lewis says. “Violence seems to be committed so…so casually. Nobody does anything.” Without ever feeling exploitative, the story takes care to portray the very real dangers of the time in a direct manner. The different ways that anxious Lewis and intrepid Pearl react to the various, profound plot twists throughout the story ring true—because this book, like the two series entries that precede it, is about fathers and what it means for children when adults make sacrifices for the greater good. Although the title of one of the last chapters here is “The End of the Adventures,” the epilogue makes clear there are still some loose ends to tie up and challenges for Lewis and Pearl to pursue. With its multiple plot twists and vivid sense of danger, this book doesn’t disappoint. Here’s hoping that this terrific first-rate middle-grade series continues.
A third series installment that offers compelling storytelling with emotional depth and chilling suspense.Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781646035694
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Fitzroy Books
Review Posted Online: today
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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