By Chris Grabenstein
4RBooks: 5+/6, grades 4-8
Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.08/5
Common Sense Media: Not yet reviewed.
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Synopsis:
Jake McQuade’s brain is still being powered by the “ingestible knowledge” (IK) jellybeans, but he is beginning to wonder if the effects are wearing off. His greatest fear to is going back to being discovered as an intellectual fraud, only the smartest kid in the universe because of the power of the jellybeans.
At this worst possible time a new and old villain show up to test him and his friends Kojo and Grace. Hubert Huxley and his grandmother Mrs. Huxley are out to enact revenge on the three who helped to send Hubert’s dad and aunt to jail, while discovering the lost red diamond that they thought belonged to their family. Instead, Grace and her family are now the owners. Hubert discovers Jake’s secret and steals a batch of Mr. Farooqi’s beans. Is he now smarter than Jake?
Meanwhile, Zane Zinkle is plotting to find and steal the red diamond and an even larger orange diamond, which Jake, Kojo, and Grace must find first. Using them in tandem, he plans to build a laser ray, like the Star Wars Death Star, and sell it off to the highest bidder. From home, to school, to secret hideouts and penthouses, to the Statue of Liberty, and then the open seas, the three adventurous will not stop until the evil is thwarted and the diamonds returned.
Parental Guidance: low
Children in dangerous situations.
Someone is trying to build a Star Wars Death Ray.
Jellybeans and diamonds were stolen.
Recommendation:
This is the third in the series “The Smartest Kid in the Universe,” and I can imagine there could be more to come. Like the first two, this novel is fun, witty, and informative. The story is fast paced and easy to read. There aren’t as many brain challenges as before, but the different characters all working either together or against each other keeps the reader on his/her toes.
Though a simple good versus evil story, the plot lends itself to conversations and discussions of power and how it can be used for a variety of purposes, some good, some evil: personal gain, benefit of society, revenge, philanthropy, destruction, instruction. With the other two books, great for individual reads, family reads, or classroom reads.
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