Capture the Flag

20charte - This book is amazing from the beginning to end. I couldn't stop reading it. It's about 3 kids Anna, Jose, Henry that all go to Washington D.C. Something horrible and very surprising happens: The original Star Spangled Banner has been stolen. A storm has struck and all the planes are delayed. Anna knows that the thief must be stuck in the airport too. Can she convince Jose and Henry to help her? But is the job to hard for them? On their journey to find the flag they meet a crazy poodle, a mysterious snake-arm man, and a soon-to-be president. Can they stop the culprits from escaping? In this intense novel you'll find out. It will take you on an adventure you'll never forget. I give Capture The Flag 5 stars.

May 28, 2012
Messner (Eye of the Storm) opens a mystery series with a novel as cinematic in execution as it is patriotic in theme—at one point, a character compares this adventure to the Jerry Bruckheimer–produced film National Treasure, and that’s not a bad call (though this story is free of explosions). After the flag that inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” is stolen during a gala at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., three seventh-graders, stranded at the airport during a freak snowstorm, investigate its disappearance, guessing that the storm might mean that the flag is at the airport, too. Not only were all three children—Anna, José, and Henry—at the Smithsonian event, it turns out they all have family members in the secret Silver Jaguar Society, whose members “made a promise to protect the world’s artifacts, and passed that promise down through generations.” Readers with even a few mystery novels under their belts will have no trouble picking up the clues Messner drops throughout this entertaining if conventional escapade. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

June 1, 2012
When the Star-Spangled Banner is taken from its super-secure Smithsonian vault, three kids connected by their Vermont background and family membership in a secret artifact-protection society combine with a visiting fourth to find the irreplaceable national treasure. Messner launches her projected three-book Silver Jaguar Society series with a fast-paced mystery. It finds a diverse group of young people snowed in at an airport with an aspiring presidential candidate; they must engage in an improbable but gripping hide-and-seek game through the belts and tunnels of the baggage-handling system to find the flag and avoid the perpetrators. There's a character for every reader: Anna, an aspiring journalist; African-American Henry, facing big family changes; Jose, who loves books; and 8-year-old Sinan, Pakistani son of two traveling musicians. The frenetic action comes right out of Henry's beloved video games or Jose's well-thumbed Harry Potter volumes, but there are political overtones, too. The xenophobia behind some proposals for immigration reform is addressed directly when Jose suggests that Anna's family might be Malfoys, and again as candidate Snickerbottom accuses "artsy all-over-the-world orchestra types" of the theft. While the way the cast moves in and out of secure areas of the airport is improbable, readers caught up in the chase won't care. Just in time for the Fourth of July, a sparkling start for a promising new series. (Mystery. 8-12)

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October 1, 2012

Gr 4-6-Three preteens are in Washington, DC, to view the flag that inspired the "Star Spangled Banner," which had recently been restored. Anna Revere-Hobbs, a budding reporter and daughter of one of Vermont's senators, is looking for a scoop. She hopes to land an interview with presidential hopeful Senator Robert Snickerbottom, but he isn't interested. Henry Thorn doesn't want to be in DC at all, but he's stuck visiting his Aunt Lucinda while his newly married father honeymoons. Jose McGilligan's scientist mother has been away for three weeks working on the restoration project. He has missed her terribly and he's hoping his life will return to normal now. Unfortunately, the flag is stolen during the night, and his mother has been detained since she was one of the last to view it. The three meet at the airport as they jockey for available outlets to recharge their electrical devices. A fierce snowstorm is about to strand everyone. As news dribbles in, Anna begins to suspect that the flag is somewhere in the airport and convinces the two boys to help her sniff out some clues. As they do, they learn that each of them has historical pedigree and a parent who is a member of a secret organization called the Silver Jaguar Society. Think of a "39 Clues"/National Treasure mash-up. There's plenty of action, suspense, and red herrings to keep eager mystery fans turning pages despite a rather buffoonish presidential candidate and huge holes in security at our nation's capital no less. As usual, Messner creates believable characters, nails the dialogue, and deftly weaves history and humor into the mix.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.