Marie D. Jones

For a book about time travel, it's got a great subject, but the book just never really gets going. It's sort of a list of movies and books that mention time travel, the occasional anecdote about purported time travel, an odd comment here and there from other writers and scientists about time travel and its possibilities, but none of the pieces seem to come together in a coherent whole.
If you want to learn more about time travel I would suggest sticking with Michio Kaku books, Brian Greene lectures, or Sean Carrol's excellent course with The Great Courses, Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time.… (más)

DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Edelweiss. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

Elvis Jones and his friends are tired of facing bullies every day at school. So they come up with a plan - a spy agency called EKHO (Evil Kid Hunting Organization), where they will perform surveillance on known bullies and band together to stop their terroristic reign of the fourth grade. However, as EKHO gains momentum, the bullies form DEKE (Destroy EKHO Kids Everywhere), Elvis begins to notice that certain kids and teachers are acting weird - like, weird weird.

The concept of this book is a really intriguing one and one that most kids who are bullied (including myself) wish they had thought of. For the most part, it was realistic and believable - the bullies don't just "steal lunch money," they behave in a menacing and threatening manner that real kids can (sadly) relate to. Parents and teachers either fail to care or make the situation worse by intervening. Most of the technology is very realistic, aside from Elvis's genius tech prowess - he seems like one of those kids who would be in college already anyway.

There is a bit of a supernatural element which is slow-paced and more of a sub-plot (I assume from the ending that this will become a series and the supernatural element will be touched upon in depth).

Despite my love for the idea of this book, and the fact that it targets an audience who is especially vulnerable and needs to be reached, I cannot recommend it as there are too many problematic features.

First and foremost, I'm not into censorship, I find cursing to emphasize certain parts of a story, but the amount of cursing and inappropriate talk in this book is unbelievable. The target audience is 9 or 10 years old. While I do believe by that age most children are well aware of curse words and do use them, there is absolutely no way I can push a book that uses words like "shit," "asshole," "douchebag," "fuck," and so on over and over and OVER again. It's not just the bullies who use these words, either, and the main character uses them TWICE toward adults (although he does apologize after). The children often make sexualized jokes or refer to their teachers as "pedos," which is just plain inappropriate. There are plenty of good kids' books out there which DO use curse words, but the pages aren't littered with them, and they usually provide a special point or emphasis, but this is an ELEMENTARY school book and there is no need for their to be a curse word every few pages.

Another issue is that the main group of children seem to be bullies themselves, toward their own friends (and it isn't all good-natured ribbing). While most of this could be used to show children how being bullied affects their behavior, it is accepted repeatedly and never brought up. Jordy is the small friend of the group, and seems not to defend himself often. Jackson is also bullied a bit for his lisp, and I have my theories that he may be the counterspy from all of the teasing he faces. With friends like that, who needs enemies? They also act like bullies toward their teachers, as I mentioned by calling them "pedos," referring to Mr. Barleycorn (who is very helpful toward EKHO) as "Barleybrain" and saying that "he has his period."

On top of this, the group makes references to violence several times. At one point, a character actually suggests they will "blow [the bully's] brains out with an AK-47," and the only mention made of it is that he shouldn't say things like that or they will get suspended.

There is also quite a bit of sexist language, from teasing Santana for being "man-like," to one sentence which literally suggests that the girls at lunch are all gossiping, texting, and gushing over One Direction. The only featured female student is Kayley, who mostly gets her time as Elvis's love interest and kisses him a lot (like, every single time she sees him). To be fair, the representation of females does improve near the end, as Elvis begins to suggest they incorporate more females, pointing out the instances of girl-on-girl bullying.

Overall, I really wish I could have liked this book, but it just had too many issues.… (más)

This is a great book. It takes the subject of bullying and deals with it in very creative and inventive ways

A few friends are sick of getting bullied and not being able to do anything about it. The school may have a policy against bullying, but the kids don't feel anyone would help them.
So they decide to create a spy club and keep tabs on the bullies, in a keep your friends close but your enemies closer kind of way.

The writing is great, and the message of the book is even better.

I was amazed to learn that the book is based on the real life experiences of the author's son. Well done to both of you. I can't wait for the sequel… (más)