Spies Inc.: The Adventures of Dash Danger

by John Keilman, Stephen Ravenscraft (Illustrator), Rick Tuma (Illustrator)

Overview

Providing kids a chance to grab a pencil and get in on the action—allowing them to create a cool spy name, map out a plan, design gadgets, develop a secret code, and much more—this book mixes prose and illustrations to tell the unique and adventurous story of a 5th-grade boy out to solve a sweet mystery. When school bully Biff Vermin needs to get the lunch lady’s top-secret cupcake frosting recipe, he doesn't need more muscle—he needs a spy. In comes the 5th-grade hero who draws inspiration from his idol Dash Danger, the brave, clever secret agent of an adventure book. Readers can follow along and help unravel the plot as their hero finds himself in more trouble than expected when he’s double-crossed by someone he trusted and must face failure head-on.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780982755204
Publisher:	Storybuilders Books
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

John Keilman is an award-winning staff writer for the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Elmhurst, Illinois. Rick Tuma is an informational graphics artist and illustrator for the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Chicago. Stephen Ravenscraft is a former senior art director at the Chicago Tribune. He currently develops interactive, multimedia stories and websites for Loyola University Chicago. He lives in Lombard, Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

“A great, interactive book that children will love to read over and over again.”  —Dr. Sylvia Rimm, psychologist, syndicated columnist, parenting specialist, and contributor, Today Show

"This interactive spy caper entices kids to concoct their own detective missions while helping the main character solve a sweet-tasting mystery . . . The book's black-and-white sketches possess all the cool, classic elements of an Inspector Gadget and Spy vs. Spy hybrid . . . The interactive bits promise hours of undercover fun."  —Kirkus Indie Reviews

From the Publisher

This interactive spy caper entices kids to concoct their own detective missions while helping the main character solve a sweet-tasting mystery. The unnamed fifth-grade narrator of this short, spirited story is entrusted with an assignment--if he knows what's good for him, says school bully Biff Vermin, he'll figure out a way to snag the coveted but top-secret recipe of the cafeteria's cupcake frosting. But first he must pitch a plan to get past the hilariously illustrated keeper of said treats--the Lunch Lady (think hairnet, crooked glasses, 200-pound sacks of flower under both arms, all on a behemoth of a woman with a gargantuan waistline atop toothpick legs). Unsure of where to start, the boy looks for tips in the latest book of his favorite series, The Adventures of Dash Danger (excerpts from the series begin each chapter). Following Dash Danger's example, he creates an alias, develops a disguise and pencils a blueprint featuring directions on how he'll sneak into the cafeteria's kitchen. Although the boy's strategy backfires, Biff still snags the cupcake recipe, leaving advanced spies to wonder why Biff couldn't just find it on his own in the first place. Despite a jacket design and some illustrations that look suspiciously derivative of those that populate Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the book's black-and-white sketches possess all the cool, classic elements of an Inspector Gadget and Spy vs. Spy hybrid. While the play-by-play of the narrator's dilemma might wear thin on seasoned snoops, and the 50 pages of lined paper included at the end of the book seem excessive, those glitches don't matter in the long run. Kids--especially reluctant readers--might be too busy making up their own spy names and drawing themselves in undercover disguises to notice. Lacking as a total package, but the interactive bits promise hours of undercover fun.

Kirkus Reviews