Andrew North Blows Up the World

October 19, 2009
Selzer's (How to Get Suspended and Influence People) madcap comedy stars a likable third-grader with an overblown imagination and ambitious plans. Convinced that his father and older brother, Jack, are undercover spies, Andrew aspires to enter the family business and become a super-spy with a pet monkey as sidekick. When the boy brings Jack's calculator (which he's sure is a "spy gadget") to school, his teacher confiscates it and locks it in a storage room that is the domain of a grumpy janitor, who Andrew suspects is also a spy. The boy's mission to retrieve the calculator before the janitor uses it to blow up the school and before his brother notices that it's missing entails some crafty plotting that brings this fast-moving story to a tidy end. Selzer adds an affecting undercurrent: Andrew's dealing with Jack's remoteness since turning 13 ("I knew it was because he was busy with spy stuff, but it still stank. I missed hanging out with him"). Despite the narrator's flights of fancy, he is a credible, down-to-earth kid. Ages 7â10.

September 1, 2009
Gr 4-6-Andrew "Danger" North is a spy-in-training who must overcome the evil Dr. Cringe (his school's janitor) to steal back a spy machine (a confiscated calculator) that might blow up the world. Only then can he become a professional spy like his father and brother. Or at least that's what he believes since his older brother has been telling him all about the spy world for years. In the midst of this, the boy must sing a solo at his school music recital, which he believes the head of the undercover organization will be attending. It will be obvious to readers that Andrew's dad is actually an insurance salesman and that the boy attends a normal school. Selzer's plot plods a bit, and it is unclear in the end whether the protagonist has finally realized that his intrigue is made up or whether he still believes that there are real spies at his school. Still, Andrew has a great imagination, and his friends and moody teenaged brother are interesting characters whom kids could see as being part of their own worlds."Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.