Spy School

January 9, 2012
In Gibbs’s (Belly Up) addition to the “child spy” genre, the CIA is (yet again) secretly recruiting kids, and Ben Ripley is the awkward 12-year-old brought into the academy, in this case under the pretense of attending a science-oriented boarding school in Virginia. The clichés (and plot holes) come as expected, from the ease with which Ben’s parents accept his leaving immediately for a school they’ve never visited, to Ben’s early struggles at the school and the presence of a traitor in the program. Depending on the dictates of the plot, the spies shift from hypercompetent (the CIA knows everything about Ben, including the extent of his hidden crush, and secretly inserts questions into standardized tests to assess children nationwide) to ineffectual (they are unable to identify a teenage mole or detect intruders). The supporting cast is occasionally interesting (school bully Chip makes a good early antagonist), but Gibbs doesn’t offer much in the way of originality to readers who have seen this plot before. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM.

February 1, 2012

Gr 5-8-Ben Ripley, a 12-year-old math genius, receives a mysterious summons to join the Academy of Espionage, a secret recruitment arm of the CIA. Since his life's ambition is to become a spy, he is thrilled by the offer, but his first day is hardly what he expected. It involves ninjas, flying bullets, and Erica, the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. A fellow student asks him to hack into the computer mainframe for him because the rumor mill says that Ben has great cryptography skills. Later that night another agent breaks into his room to kidnap him. It turns out someone keeps leaking sensitive information, and Ben's recruitment was set up strictly as a ploy to find the mole; he is a perfect target for the organization of rogue double agents that has infiltrated the school. Most of the adults are so inept and clueless that Ben and Erica, with the help of their fellow students, save the school from being destroyed by a giant bomb hidden in a secret passageway. Twists and turns in the plot keep readers guessing until the very end. The story, over-the-top funny, combines Alex Rider's espionage skills with a huge dose of the sarcasm of Artemis Fowl. Subtle digs at the stuffiness of a federal agency and the romance of spying abound. The book ends with a letter, fully redacted of all sensitive information, to the Director of Internal Investigations recommending Ben's continued attendance at the school, leaving room for a sequel or two.-Diana Pierce, Leander High School, TX

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
Grades 4-7 Ben Ripley has always wanted to escape the ordinariness of his middle-school life and be a spy. But then Alexander Hale appears at his home looking like James Bond, wanting Ben to enroll immediately in the CIA's top-secret Academy of Espionage, and immediately things begin to happen. There's a beautiful girl, Erica, and multiple assaults on Ben's lifeincluding ninjas, assassins in the night, and bombsand suddenly Ben isn't so sure that being a spy is all that glamorous. Gibbs takes the familiar boarding-school setting and revamps it in this slightly cheeky, action-packed novel for middle-school readers. While most of the characters are somewhat flat, Ben is well-defined; he is a math nerd, a geek who has never gotten the girl, but he comes into his own when he is under attack. Similar in many ways to the Alex Rider books for an older audience, this romp is a great choice for reluctant readers of either gender.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
Twelve-year-old Ben Ripley thought living at a top-secret spy school would be super cool, but the classes are boring, the food is atrocious, and, worst of all, he's being used as bait. He's got to find a mole in the organization while keeping his cool in front of the girls. Funny and suspenseful, this book is perfectly pitched for middle-grader and tween boys.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)