[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Random House Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Once upon a time, a ruthless pirate entrusted his treasure to his cabin boy. He forgot he killed the boy’s father; the boy had no loyalty to the pirate. The cabin boy hid the treasure and left a trail for his descendants to follow to find it.
Riverview Middle School is a shabby, derelict building whose best days were long ago. The district will likely sell the building off at the end of the year rather than invest what it would cost to bring it up to snuff. At least, that is what a certain land developer and his cohort are counting on.
Jake McQuade attends Riverview. Jake is cool and popular. And he’s at school to hang out with his friends. He figures if he needs to know something, he can just look it up on his phone rather than put a lot of effort into learning things. He’s the poster child for apathy and slothfulness.
For example, one night when his mom is working late, she tells Jake he’s responsible for making sure he and his younger sister have dinner. Rather than cooking something from the fridge – too much work – he and his sister take a bus to the hotel where his mom works. She’s working a big banquet where there’s always extra food, cooked by someone else. While Jake waits, he eats a small jar of jelly beans from the hotel’s green room.
Jake has no idea that those were no ordinary jelly beans. They were a science experiment! By the end of the night, Jake is spouting random facts and speaking foreign languages. But he doesn’t know why.
When word starts getting out about Jake’s intelligence, everyone wants Jake for something. The scientist who made the jelly beans wants to study him. His crush at school wants him to join the quiz bowl team. His best friend wants him to use his brain to make money. And the FBI wants his help solving cases. All Jake wants, though, is to go back to his normal self and his old life.
Review
This was so fun! Jake’s a great kid – both the apathetic version and the brilliant one. I loved his friends and his relationship with them and with his family.
The villains were exactly right for the audience of the book. And I enjoyed the three distinct pieces of the story – the jelly beans and Jake’s intelligence, the missing treasure, and the school pieces (quiz bowl, the principal, etc.). Everything fit together like a perfect puzzle, well-balanced and well-paced. The short chapters added to the sense of adventure and urgency of the story. This would be a fun class read-aloud because of the story, but those short chapters would be an advantage for teachers as well when kids ask for “one more chapter.”
This is another fun, captivating story from the author of the Lemoncello Library books and many others, Chris Grabenstein. Don’t miss this one!
Rating: ♥♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read