Comments for NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society

NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society: 01/14/14

NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley is the first book in a series of elementary school aged superheroes, who are nerds in their secret identities. It's told from the point of view of a bully, Jackson, who is accidentally recruited.

Before any of that happens, Jackson is turned appearance-wise into a nerd. He suddenly needs braces and suffers some other normal teenage changes. Gone is the jock and Jackson is out of sorts.

I don't know if this long introduction is supposed to make Jackson a sympathetic character or a humorous one. For me, it does neither. It bloats the book and drags the pacing.

Eventually Jackson catches onto the nerds of the class disappearing all together. He decides to follow them out of curiosity. When they seem to disappear into thin air, he literally falls into their secret lair. And then there's more time on Jackson's new persona and how the National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society works. By this time, I was singing the Rescue Aid Society song from The Rescuers as my attention and interest further drifted.

There is so much introductory material in the first of the NERDS series that there's little room left for adventure. I hear from my son that the later books are more plot focused.

Three stars

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