Flight of the Silver Turtle

October 1, 2006
Gr 4-6-Having survived the machinations of an evil genius in "The 7 Professors of the Far North" (Putnam, 2005), the same kids and their professorial guardians are involved in a new adventure. This time, they have joined up with a novice airplane enthusiast, Amy McAirdrie. When Professors Sharpe and Ampersand and their wards Ben, Zara, Sam, and Marcia decide to help her with the planes construction, they have no idea that their every move is being watched. A shadowy organization known as Noctarma is eyeing the airplane very closely. When a series of misunderstandings leads to the kids running, or rather flying, for their lives, they find themselves in a race to discover the secret of antigravity before the bad guys do. Escaping from Noctarmas clutches repeatedly, the plucky children must elude capture and figure out whom to trust before its too late. The writing is consistently upbeat and energetic even if it bogs down a little during the airplane passages. Fans of Fardells previous book will enjoy following the characters and their wacky high-speed adventures. New readers, on the other hand, will have a difficult time sorting out the large cast of characters and their backgrounds."Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2006
The cast from " The 7 Professors of the Far North" (2005) returns in another rip-roaring story. Things start off quietly as four British children help eccentric Professor Ampersand and his friends work on an experimental aircraft called the " Silver Turtle." Soon, though, kids Sam, Zara, Ben, and Marcia are propelled into an adventure involving an antigravity machine that was invented during World War II and then lost. The kids also encounter an evil cabal of powerful, shadowy figures who hope to find the plans for the machine. The plucky voyagers' journey takes them to the depths of Lake Geneva, the dungeons of a Swiss castle, and the galleries of the Royal Museum of Edinburgh in a novel that features daring escapes, secret codes, and more than one hail of bullets. Rounding out the story are the author's small but elegant black-and-white drawings, which appear on many pages. This sequel offers everything that fans of adventure stories could want.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)