White, Wade Albert The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes, 374 pgs. Little, Brown and Company (Hachette) 2016. $16.99. Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.
Anne and Penelope are orphans who are awaiting their 13th year to be transferred from working in St. Lupin’s orphanage to a life of adventure at a training school. But when Anne is denied her ticket on the boat, she and Penelope escape with a magical gauntlet, a GPS (a magical sparrow) and an interesting book called The Adventurer’s Guide to . . . well, whatever they need to know about. Before they know it, the two girls have been assigned a quest, given a boy companion named Hiro, and sent into the dangerous world complete with zombie sharks, robots, and Matron - who keeps showing up to seek her revenge.
This is a story where the children’s fortunes often go from bad to worse and back again. Just when you think they are out of danger things go bad. It was rather chaotic with help arriving and enemies on their trail at every page turn. With so much Deus ex Machina the readers are unable to try to solve the quest themselves, so just go along for the ride and enjoy the humor. I’m not sure where to put this - it’s like a little bit of Harry Potter/Lemony Snicket but both fantasy (dragons and magic) and science fiction (robots and computers).
EL, MS OPTIONAL Lisa Librarian
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