Teen Agent

Gr 3—6—This up-to-date action mystery resembles a Saturday-morning cartoon. Four slender teens, each with a specialty (martial arts, computers, etc.), sleuth their way through a plot that cuts corners on its way to a predictable conclusion. Lots of kids love TV cartoons, and this one comes with discussion questions, writing prompts, and a few vocabulary words (e.g., terrain, sabotage). The richly colored digital art starts off fine—characters have big manga-esque eyes but are not overly stylized, action is convincingly rendered, and panels are drawn using a variety of points of view. However, the drawing is of uneven quality, and by the end of the book, it is poorly rendered, with many panels appearing pixilated and rough. Bright, appealing colors and the promise of action give this book a lot of shelf appeal, but readers looking for suspense will quickly lose interest.—Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD