FROM TEXAS WITH LOVE by Dan Gutman

Coke and Pepsi watched the family RV explode with Evil Elvis inside at the end of book three, You Only Die Twice. They still need to get home to California. The family buys new supplies, Dad gets them a car, and they pick up their trip across the south from Tennessee to New Mexico.  With Evil Elvis dead, could it be that Coke and Pepsi are finally free?

Of course not! There's no story without people trying to kill the twins! This picks up the same pace as previous stories, full of danger and wacky-yet-real places around the country. Cliff-hanger ending sets up the fifth and final book, License to Thrill which will probably release in 2015. You can read a chapter of it here.

4 out of 5 stars
This does not have an AR reading level yet.

CHAPTER BOOK: You Only Die Twice by Dan Gutman

Book three in the Genius Files series! You can read about book one here and book two here (both have an AR reading level of 4.8).

In the third adventure, Coke and Pep are still trying to recover from the surprise ending of book 2. They made it to Washington DC for their aunt's wedding and now they are going to travel back across the country to their home in California in an RV with their parents, stopping at every random roadside attraction and museum their mom can find along the way. Early on, it looks like maybe they aren't in danger any more. Maybe no one will try to kill them on the way back home! But Coke and Pepsi aren't that lucky. There's a new villain tracking them this time along with some old "friends," new ciphers, and plenty of family "fun" cooped up in an RV together.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Great adventure, great humor, another nice cliffhanger at the end. The author is in talks to make the series into a movie and if they stay close to the story, it will be a winner for family entertainment! Until then, steer your adventure-loving readers to this series. They won't be disappointed!

4.5 out of 5 stars
No AR level yet.

Recommended for: readers in third grade and up, fans of fast-paced stories, spy stories, adventure stories, funny stories, and fans of Dan Gutman's other books.

TUESDAY: Never Say Genius by Dan Gutman

Summary
Coke and Pepsi, and their parents, are still working their way across the country on their way to a family wedding in Washington DC. The McDonald's are still stopping at all sorts of unusual landmarks on their way from Wisconsin to DC. And someone is still trying to kill Coke and Pepsi.


Review
Another fast-moving adventure story for fans of the first book in the series (Mission Unstoppable). Plenty of geographical information as the family moves from state to state. Great cliffhanger at the end will have readers begging for the next story (which doesn't come out until January 2013).


4 out of 5 stars
No AR level established yet


Recommended for: fans of the first series. If you are a school librarian who routinely hears, "I want a book with action," steer your readers here.


Cautions: none.

Waiting on WEDNESDAY: February New Releases, part 1

February 2012 is here! That means it is time for me to start thinking about new releases in February. The first Tuesday of the month is a big release day. Here are some titles you can expect to release this coming Tuesday:


Cake on a Hot Tin Roof (Piece of Cake Mystery series) ~ Jacklyn Brady
The Walled Flower (Victoria Square Mystery series) ~ Lorraine Bartlett
Buried in a Book (A Novel Idea Mystery) ~ Lucy Arlington (new series)
Death on Heels (A Crime of Fashion Mystery) ~ Ellen Byerrum
Scrapbook of Secrets ~ Mollie Cox Bryan
Clobbered by Camembert (Cheese Shop Mystery) ~ Avery Aames
A Fitting End (Magical Dressmaking Mystery) ~ Melissa Bourbon
Listen to my Trumpet (Piggie and Gerald) ~ Mo Willems
Town in a Wild Moose Chase (A Candy Holliday Mystery) ~ B.B. Haywood
One Book in the Grave (Bibliophile Mystery series) ~ Kate Carlisle
Murder in a Basket ~ Amanda Flower
Mr. Burke Is Berserk (My Weirder School) ~ Dan Gutman
The Fourth Stall, Part II (middle grade book) ~ Chris Rylander
Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet (picture book) ~ Jane O'Connor




Lots of reading potential for the first Tuesday in February! Enjoy.

Waiting on WEDNESDAY: Never Say Genius

Book #2 of Dan Gutman's Genius Files series, Never Say Genius, released yesterday. This is the book I am going to read next. You can go here to see the cover art and read some of the beginning. My students and I really enjoyed the first adventure, and from everything I have seen online, this one will be fantastic (they start in Wisconsin and eat cheese curds!).

Waiting on WEDNESDAY: New Releases, part 2

More new books coming in January:




Bad Kitty for President by Nick Bruel (releases 1/17)
Never Say Genius by Dan Gutman (Genius Files #2 -- releases 1/24)
File M for Murder by Miranda James (Cat in the Stacks series -- releases 1/31)

BONUS BLOG: Mission Unstoppable (The Genius Files)

Summary 
First in a new series.

Twelve-year-old twins, Coke and Pepsi, have no idea they are part of the Genius Files - a secret government project to use highly intelligent children to solve the problems of the world. Since they don't know about the project, they can't figure out why men in bowler hats, driving a golf cart, are trying to kill them or why someone would set their school on fire. The twins are going to have to work together to solve ciphers, escape death traps, and keep their parents blissfully ignorant on a trek across the country that is so much more than just a family vacation.

Review

This is another one of the eight books I read to my writing students when we were talking about writing stories with good beginnings. This story has a great beginning! And the reading joy just keeps going from there. Coke and Pepsi (yes, those are their names, and the book does include an explanation) are great, believable characters. The action really kept the book moving, which was especially good because one of my students informed me that she put a hold request in at the library to get the book once I was done with it, so I was feeling the pressure to read quickly for her sake.



4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: children over 8 or 10, classroom story times, readers who like spy/secret agent-type stories


Cautions: none

[I am an Amazon Associate. If you link to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small portion of the purchase price.]

MONDAY: The Talent Show

Summary 
Cape Bluff, Kansas is decimated by a tornado. Hopefully, a talent show featuring the kids of the community will raise enough money to start to put things right again. And there are plenty of talented kids - Paul, the guitar player; Julia, the dancer; Elke, the singer; Richard, the rapper; and Don, the comedian. Not to mention the famous pop star, Justin Chanda, formerly of Cape Bluff. But he's in New York, working on a new album. How could the talent show have anything to do with him?

Review

This was the second book chosen by my students for me to read based on the beginning of the story [I talked about this in my review of The Candymakers]. I didn't love the story at first, but it grew on me. By the end, I really cared about what happened to the students and the community.



4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for: children over 9 or 10 due to descriptions of the tornado damage, classroom story time, aspiring performers


Cautions: realistic descriptions of the tornado and the damage it inflicts might be frightening to sensitive readers

[I am an Amazon Associate. If you link to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small portion of the purchase price.]

TUESDAY: The Christmas Genie

I know Christmas is done, but I read this book late in the holiday season and wanted to post a review before January is over!


A class of 5th graders is shocked at the arrival of a meteorite in the middle of their classroom. They are stunned when a genie comes out of it and offers to grant one wish for the whole class.

Dan Gutman is the author of books like The Homework Machine and The Kid Who Ran For President as well as the My Weird School series. Most of this particular book consists of each student's wish and the class' reaction to the wish. Most of the wishes were "selfish," something the wisher wanted for himself or herself. The class would complain that the wish wasn't for everyone, etc. For me, this got a little tiring after awhile. I imagine the targeted age group, however, would enjoy hearing about the wishes and thinking of what they would wish for if a genie ever offered them one Christmas wish.


[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]