The Secret of Zoom

Starred review from November 1, 2009
Gr 4-7-This exciting tale, with just a touch of fantasy and humor, is a winner. Christina Adnoid's mother was blown up at Loompski Labs, where she worked as a scientist, when Christina was very young. Christina, who happens to have perfect pitch, now lives with her father, also a scientist at the lab, and is carefully guarded and protected by her governess. When she and an orphan named Taft discover an attic in her house and a tunnel that leads from there under the house and into the forest, she realizes that bad things are happening. Children from the local orphanage are being held prisoner and taken to an unknown destination, and she realizes that it is those who can sing well who are chosen. She gets involved in trying to help save the orphans, and very soon herself, from the evil Lenny Loompski and his henchmen, who are using the orphans' musical talents for their own purposes. Complete with a cast of clearly drawn characters, the adventure proceeds at a breakneck pace until all is resolved and a happy ending completes the picture. This is a Roald Dahl-like world in which good and bad are clearly demarcated, and justice is dispensed in a particularly satisfying way. Like Christina, Jonell displays pitch-perfect skills in an expertly crafted story that never flags and that includes plenty of heart-stopping situations to keep readers fully engaged."Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2009
Grades 4-6 Jonell, author of Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat (2007), builds this fantasy upon a very different sortof alternative energy. Laced into the rocks of the Starkian Ridge is a pink-and-green substancecalled zoom. Like most fuels, zoom makes things go, is definitely explosive, and worth buckets of money for the savvy prospector. Whats different is that it only responds to certain notes sung by a voice fueled by fear.So, the greedy schemer who fills the role of flat-out bad guy, Lenny Loompski, employs a group of starved, neglected, and terrified singing orphans living inconcentration camplikeconditionsto mine the precious substance. Until, that is, the overly protected (and pitch-perfect) Christina catches wind of the orphans plight and pluckily embarks on a zoom-fueled thrill ride to save the day, even as she uncoversa few secrets from her own past along the way. Although some clumsy plot maneuvering and frustratingly obtuse characters keep this from flying too high, theresstill plentyof quirky imagination, off-kilter energy, and looping thrillsat work here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)