Young Captain Nemo: The Door into the Deep

March 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 Gabriel Nemo doesn't have a normal family. As descendants of Captain Nemo, his parents live leagues under the sea in the high-tech Nemolab, and his sister Nerissa leads rogue missions attacking illegal whalers. Left alone, Gabriel forms a crew with his two best friends to do aquatic search-and-rescue missions on his own submarine vessel, the Obscure. When a completely new?and potentially dangerous?species of underwater monsters called Lodgers start taking over sunken WWII vessels, the U.S. Navy decides to destroy them. Nemo legacy says Lodgers deserve to be respected and protected, but how can a trio of 12-year-olds, even armed with elaborate communication systems and sonar equipment, possibly stand up to the navy and rescue a breed of fierce sea creatures? There's both futuristic and classic steampunk appeal here, admirably mixing Jules Verne lore with 007-level gadgetry. Stakes are high, the pace is fast, and there are excellent (and surprisingly subtle) messages of coping with childhood loneliness and the importance of taking care of our planet's oceans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)