The League of Unexceptional Children

July 20, 2015
This series opener from Daneshvari (the School of Fear series) pokes sly fun at the pressure to raise future valedictorians and CEOs, by turning the tables on the classic trope of an average kid discovering secret greatness. Twelve-year-old students Jonathan Murray and Shelley Brown have unimpressive intellectual capacities and banal personalities—which makes them perfect candidates for the League of Unexceptional Children. The secret organization is facing a crisis: the U.S. vice president, one of two people in possession of a code that could compromise national security, has been kidnapped. Jonathan and Shelley need to decide if they trust the League before racing against the clock to try to find the v-p. Daneshvari’s fast-paced, twisty story is chock-full of clever humor (“You are not James Bond,” an elder agent explains. “You are James Bond’s cousins who are routinely left out of the family newsletter for both a lack of interest and your relatives’ general forgetfulness regarding your existence”) and will give readers a new appreciation for the average, as well as an appetite for the next book. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company.

August 1, 2015
Below-average middle schoolers Jonathan and Shelley have one ability that makes them, well, not stand out but rather blend in: they are utterly unremarkable. It is this quality that makes them ideal recruits for the top-secret League of Unexceptional Children, an organization of kid and teen spies dedicated to protecting national security. As recruiter Hammett explains, "You are right there in the world's blind spot." So it is that these preteens bravely answer the call of duty to find the culprit who has kidnapped the vice president of the United States and, with him, the code that could bring destruction to all, no matter how dull or exceptional. With this promising premise, Daneshvari delivers hilarious shenanigans and moments of verbal delight, as when giving a very specific order to a fast-food cashier ("a double dog with a side of mustard, two sides of relish, a can of diet Fanta, fourteen packets of ketchup, two straws, and seven napkins") yields the protagonists entry to an oversized fridge, pushing on the back of which allows them into the league's HQ; as Shelley puts it, "It's kind of like Narnia, only with a lot of pork products." These moments will help readers past the occasional odd jerks of the plot that make the story at times difficult to follow.This humorous new series is sure to appeal to fans of Daneshvari and other lovers of the ludicrous. (Adventure. 8-12)

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July 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Shelley and Jonathan are average kids: forgettable, normal, and looked over. In fact, many of their classmates have been going to school with them for years and would not be able to recognize them if they were stuck in an elevator together. However, their ordinariness is the qualifying trait that the League of Unexceptional Children is looking for. The League is a covert network of spies that are, well, unexceptional. The unexceptionals are the forgotten ones, the spies that can slip in and out of a room without anyone bothering to notice. After an inept security guard allowed the White House to be breached, several monumental things have happened: the vice president is missing, the nation's greatest spies are deactivated, and several confidential documents and data are compromised. Thankfully, Shelley and Jonathan are average, forgettable, but perfect additions to the League of Unexceptional Children. They have vowed to risk their lives for their country's liberties, all the while answering to the wrong name. From the best-selling author of School of Fear (2010) and the "Ghoulfriends Forever" series (both Little, Brown), comes a humorous middle grade novel that keeps readers giggling. The story flows easily through short chapters with interwoven art that further captures the humor of Jonathan and Shelley's case. VERDICT With humor that both girls and boys will enjoy, this likable book is a good fit for most collections.-Brittney Kosev, Dave Blair Elementary School, Farmers Branch, TX

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2015
Grades 4-6 After someone breaks into the White House, kidnaps the vice president, and steals a vital computer code, the country's most secretive spy agency recruits two undistinguished middle-school kids to solve the case and save the world. Growing up in a town full of overachievers, 12-year-olds Shelley and Jonathan are used to people forgetting their names and their faces, but that's what qualifies them for the League of Unexceptional Children. They bumble through their training and, though they're prepared to fail big, they succeed in the end. While the initial premise and some plot elements may be hard to swallow, everything else in this amusing chapter book goes down easy. Even with the fate of the world resting on their slightly hunched shoulders, the main characters are so disarmingly upfront about their inadequacies that they'll definitely have readers on their side. Recommended for fans of Daneshvari's School of Fear series as well as kids growing up in communities where all the children are above average. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)