Spy Ski School, by Stuart Gibbs (Simon and Schuster, 2016, $18.99 HC, 9-12 years, grades 3-6, 384 pp, $8.99PB ) Book 4 of 11. Review by Skye Anderson.
Our Hero
Spy Ski School, 4th in a series of 12, reads both fast and slow. Slowly revealed yet accelerating, the plot seems to go fast and faster. And so intriguing that you will want to read the first book in the series, Spy School,
to find out how our young hero-in-training was recruited to be a junior spy by the CIA.
Ben Ripley is 13 years old, a student in a school so secret that even his parents are not told the truth: they think he goes to a special nerdy science school, instead of the Washington, DC, based (somewhere) middle-school/highschool.
The very prolific author, Stuart Gibbs, has really struck it rich in the Spy School stories and the covers are simply priceless: bright backgrounds, a spy in black silhouette in the foreground with some object in color, like footwear.
The Plot
Ben enrolls in a ski school in Colorado over the Christmas holidays and has mere days to uncover a Chinese bad guy, find out what he is up to - Operation Golden Fist - and stop it. Along with his buddies including heart-throb Erica, another student spy who is cool, calm and collected, Ben's task is to befriend Jessica Chang and find out what her father is up to - without getting killed himself.
Leo Chang rents an entire hotel in Vail, Colorado, for a week for his daughter and himself, and a few bodyguards, but what is his nefarious purpose? And if you can follow which of the girls have crushes on which of the boys and vice-versa, you are way ahead of me.
Like other Stuart Gibbs' books*, the Spy School stories star a young boy whose sidekick, Erica, is just about perfect in every subject, every sport while bumbling Ben somehow also manages to save the day.
With some 13-year-old romances (among 13-year-olds, that is) along the way, a nuclear bomb, helicopters and, of course, 'smores, Ben's missions involve not only cliffhangers and spine-tingling scares but the value of friendship between both boys and girls.
The reader may also be inspired to look up geographical locations and perhaps even start paying attention to world news.
Oh, and a golden retriever IS mentioned. . . .
A few books in the series are now in graphic novel form! And soon to be a movie!
And what about Poached!?
We also especially love the similar Teddy Fitzroy zoo-based Fun Jungle mysteries. starting with Belly Up!
*The titles (so far!):
1. Spy School
2. Spy Camp
3. Evil Spy School
4. Spy Ski School
5. Spy School Secret Service
6. Spy School Goes South
7. Spy School British Invasion
8. Spy School Revolution
9. Spy School At Sea
10. Spy School Project X
11. Spy School Goes North
12. Spy School Goes Wild, available September 24, 2024
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