The Ability

March 4, 2013
Christopher Lane lives in a dilapidated house in London with his deeply depressed, widowed mother. Constantly in trouble and reduced to stealing money to buy groceries, Chris is stunned when he passes a very unusual interview and is accepted into an exclusive boarding school. Myers Holt Academy is actually a secret project of the English government to train students in the Ability: telepathy, telekinesis, accelerated learning, and other amazing feats only possible when kids turn 12 and gain access to the brain’s complete potential for a single year. Myers Holt was shut down 30 years ago after a failed mission, but when a villain starts targeting the program’s veterans, Chris and his five classmates are recruited to reopen the school and stop the attacks. Vaughan’s debut has some occasionally stilted prose and plausibility gaps, but readers will enjoy the candy-shop wish fulfillment in this fast-paced, superhero-tinged spy novel. With its comics-style origin stories and vows of revenge, this first book in a planned series has an intriguing concept that could hit a middle-grade sweet spot. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM.

May 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Twelve-year-old Christopher Lane's life is grim. His father is dead, his mother is severely depressed, and Chris has been expelled from school. Enter Miss Sonata of the Myers Holt Academy, a top-secret school under the auspices of Britain's MI5. Here Chris joins five other children, all of whom have been chosen for their unique ability to access and control people's minds. And of course, someone needs to be controlled. The only problem is that no one is quite sure who it is. Whoever is responsible for wreaking havoc on former students must be stopped, and Chris and his fellow classmates are the world's only hope. The Ability is another in a string of middle-grade tales replete with dysfunctional families, villains, heroes, and gruesome deaths. However, what could be a thoroughly engrossing, fast-paced adventure is marred by run-on sentences and awkward writing. This is unfortunate as Chris is an engaging hero; readers will want to sympathize with him, root for him, and celebrate with him as he finds his place in the world. Plus, there's the added bonus of not one, but three despicable villains, one of whom dies and sets up what is sure to be a sequel.-Mary Beth Rassulo, Ridgefield Library, CT

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