My eight-year-old son and I stumbled upon a book the other day that he’s been unable to put down: The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis. If you roll your eyes at the school-despising, slacker mentality of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid
The book begins as the story of one boy, Julian, who is bullied at school for being a “nerd.” His family moves to a new town, though, which promises a new start. Julian nevertheless finds he can’t hide who he really is, even if it means living in the shadow of “cool” kids like athletic jock Ben or tough-girl Greta. Davis takes the story in an unexpected but welcome direction, however (spoiler alert!), when she reveals Ben and Greta to be just as into science and inventing as Julian. Together, they form “The Secret Science Alliance” and end up saving the town from an evil adult inventor.
The dialog is funny, clever, and inspiring. The little details and labels in the drawings give the book a richness lacking in many graphic novels. There’s just enough adolescent mischievousness that kids won’t feel the characters are “do-gooders” in a way that makes them hard to relate to. (You can see an excerpt at Davis’ Web site.) Although the characters are in middle school, there’s nothing in the book that seems inappropriate or irrelevant for upper elementary students.
Davis adds some thoughtful touches to fill out the story. Ben, although he is good at inventing, lacks confidence and does poorly in school because he’s not good at taking tests—pointing out that there are many ways to measure intelligence. There’s also a great panel in which Greta tries to “disguise” herself by wearing “ordinary” 12-year-old girl clothes of ruffles and pink—which just points out that her real attire of t-shirt, overalls, and bicycle helmet better reflect who she is, gender stereotypes be damned.
Greta and her father are also black–which is irrelevant to the storyline but very relevant given the dearth of well written black female characters in children’s literature. And although the book begins from Julian’s perspective, each of the three kids end up playing fairly equal roles. Additionally, Greta’s father is the director of the local museum, and has a key part in the story. (Julian and Ben’s families are less prominent.)
The book was published in 2009, so maybe I’m late to the game on this one, but better late than never. Davis’ previous book, Stinky, was a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. She continues her excellent record with The Secret Science Alliance. My only complaint is that she hasn’t yet written a sequel—or that PBS Kids hasn’t picked it up to turn into a television series. This is exactly the sort of tale that could convince kids “geek is good” and science and technology are worth studying. If they pull a few pranks and catch some bad guys along the way, so much the better.
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i remember picking up a book with my daugther for the first time and reading it together. sometimes you’ll get so hooked.