A Problematic Paradox

November 6, 2017
Thirteen-year-old Nikola Kross is a genius and self-described “weirdo,” which has made her an outcast in her small North Dakota town. After her scientist-inventor father is abducted by a girl with unusually long limbs and sharp teeth, Nikola is brought to “the School,” a town-size institution that educates part-alien “parahumans” (and the occasional human student) in such subjects as xenopsychology and practical quantum mechanics. (Her father is one of its most celebrated human alumni.) The school and its students are threatened by Nikola’s father’s captors: the Old Ones, ancient interdimensional creatures that seek to destroy the Earth. When the school’s defense system is breached, Nikola attempts to uncover who is behind it. Nikola’s blunt wit makes for entertaining reading (she describes her father’s kidnapper as “a charming young lady... with the arms of a gorilla and all the charisma of a rubber boot filled with refried beans”) in debut author Sappingfield’s frenetic SF comedy. The school’s fantastical elements are inventive and fun, but it’s Nikola’s longing for friends that forms the heart of the story. Ages 10–up. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Salky Getzler.

Starred review from December 15, 2017
After her father's abduction, a middle school genius is sent to a school filled with quirks and quarks.Thirteen-year-old Nikola, a scientific prodigy who presents white but is of ambiguous race, is the ostracized weirdo at her North Dakota school. On the day she encounters Tabbabitha, the ugliest, oddest-looking girl she's ever seen, Nikola's scientist father is abducted and Nikola barely escapes Tabbabitha's goons herself. For her protection, Nikola's father had arranged that she be sent to the Plaskington International Laboratory School of Scientific Research and Technological Advancement ("the School" for short), a highly secure, town-sized campus where a small percentage of racially diverse, gifted humans join parahumans in the study of ludicrously advanced science. Extraterrestrial parahumans have all sorts of wild appearances and abilities, and they are very distant cousins to the evil, interdimensional, Lovecraft-ian horrors called Old Ones--of whom Tabbabitha is one. Nikola's bullying-vs.-friendship storyline plays out with nuance. Although her bullies back home are clearly portrayed as in the wrong, Nikola's pre-emptive rejection of others doesn't help; here she decides to turn over a new leaf among other geniuses only to struggle with parahuman social norms. This is juxtaposed against absolute outlandishness, an endless parade of jokes (both sly and knee-slapping), incredibly wacky worldbuilding and characters, and a savvy, refreshing irreverence for the genre. Readers will clamor for more.A glorious cacophony of wildly inventive gadgets, gags, and action. (Science fiction. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-Stuck in a jet-propelled trailer during an escape from an alien gang, Nikola Kross muses, "Before long, I would either be safe or dead. Either way, my problems were over." Despite the fact that Nikola is a certified genius, about this, she is wrong. Between alien invasions, the mysterious disappearance of her father, a rocket-powered mobile home, and a strange arrival at an even stranger school in the middle of nowhere, her troubles are only beginning. Sappingfield's debut is smart, energetic, and original. The writing is light and humorous as it tackles a super-galactic adventure. Nikola's spinning, whizzing inner monologue and sardonic take on the world around her are amusing, but they often alienate her from her peers (or, as her guidance counselor Ms. Hiccup terms them, "horrible people" whose parents are "horrible people," in an uneasy confirmation of Nikola's somewhat smug superiority). Given that she's led a nomadic life without a mother and with a detached father who is brilliant himself, it's easy to see why she would have developed a protective, incisive sense of humor by middle school. She much prefers solo scientific experimentation to social activities. But once she lands at a secret school for geniuses like her, she finds that all the puzzling in the world can't guarantee an answer to the most perplexing question of all: who she is herself. While the subject matter (secret abilities, extraterrestrials) will please a middle grade audience, at times the references and tone skew toward older readers. VERDICT Though some jokes may soar over middle grade heads, most readers will willingly jump with Nikola into the nearest wormhole and next adventure.-Chelsea Woods, New Brunswick Free Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.