We Dine With Cannibals

October 1, 2011
Is it any wonder 11-year-old twins Oliver and Celia Navel hate explorers, given that all explorers ever do is nearly get them killed? Television is so much safer. Celia and Oliver barely escaped Tibet with their lives (We Are Not Eaten by Yaks, 2011), and they failed to convince their mother (an explorer, of course) to give up her quest for the Lost Library of Alexandria and return home. Now, thanks to their father (another explorer), they're indentured for the entirety of summer vacation to Sir Edmund Titheltorpe-Schmidt III (yeah, yet another explorer), who has them searching Machu Picchu for a clue to the Lost Library's location. All in all, they're looking forward to sixth grade (that's saying something). When school goes disastrously wrong, the twins find themselves dragged off to the Amazon. At least they're in the company of their idol Corey Brandt, star of Sunset High and Agent Zero, who's hired the family as consultants for his hit show The Celebrity Adventurist. When Dad and Sir Edmund are kidnapped by cannibals, the twins must use their television-derived smarts to rescue them…or, at the very least, survive. London's second in the Accidental Adventure series has more thrills and more mystery (and naturally more complaining and more laughs) than the first. Fans will be glad of the promise of an adventure in Atlantis to come; Celia and Oliver know adventure is only thrilling when it happens to someone else. (Humorous adventure. 10-14)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012

Gr 4-7-This sequel to We Are Not Eaten by Yaks (Philomel, 2011) is fast paced and funny. Eleven-year-old twins Celia and Oliver Navel just want to be like other kids, eating junk food and watching television, a lot of television. However, their father has other plans for them. Their parents are part of a worldwide explorers' club and now their mother has gone missing while searching for the Lost Library of Alexandria. Of course, it is up to Celia and Oliver to find her and bring her home. In this expedition to the Amazon, the twins encounter mummies, bats, poisonous spiders, and cannibals. Their knowledge of reality television shows has given them the survival skills good explorers need when faced with adventure. "Accidental Adventure" has it all: sibling rivalry, problems with parents, pop culture, and things that are gross and creepy, like Oliver's poisonous pet lizard, Beverly. Full-page cartoon-style illustrations are scattered throughout.-Tammy DiBartolo, Rapides Parish Library, Alexandria, LA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 The reluctantly brave twins Oliver and Celia Navel are back after last appearing in We Are Not Eaten by Yaks (2011). This time, the siblings are dragged away from their beloved television for a trip to South America that involves an Amazon tribe and the search for both El Dorado and the Lost Library of Alexandria. The novel features many goofy situations as the twins and their parents try to overcome a secret organization bent on gaining access to the wisdom of the ancients for nefarious purposes. The novel's end promises more over-the-top and satirical Da Vinci Codetype adventures to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)