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Reviews
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
The Arctic Marauder by Jacques Tardi
Babymouse: Monster Mash by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Born to Rule by Kathryn Lasky
Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems
The Conductor by Laëtitia Devernay
Fullmetal Alchemist 21 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 22 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 23 by Hiromu Arakawa
Funny How Things Change by Melissa Wyatt
Geektastic edited by Holly Black
Helen of Pasadena by Lian Dolan
The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate by Scott Nash
The Hole in the Wall by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
Images of Nature: The Photographs of Thomas D. Mangelsen by Charles Craighead
Just Like Bossy Bear by David Horvath
The Library by Sarah Stewart
The Lost Art of Reading by David L. Ulin
NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley
Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
Once in a Lifetime by Cathy Kelly
Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg
Punished! by David Lubar
Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson
Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest by John Lechner
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 06 by CLAMP
When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
xxxHolic Volume 12 by CLAMP

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5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish



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

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

cover art

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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