Can an undercover nerd become a superstar agent? Ben Ripley sure hopes so–and his life may depend on it Ben Ripley may only be in middle school, but hes already pegged his dream job: C.I.A. or bust. Unfortunately for him, his personality doesnt exactly scream “secret agent.” In fact, Ben is so awkward, he can barely get to school and back without a mishap. Because of his innate nerdiness, Ben is … nerdiness, Ben is not surprised when he is recruited for a magnet school with a focus on science–but hes entirely shocked to discover that the school is actually a front for a junior C.I.A. academy. Could the C.I.A. really want “him”?
Actually, no. Theres been a case of mistaken identity–but that doesnt stop Ben from trying to morph into a supercool undercover agent, the kind that always gets the girl. And through a series of hilarious misadventures, Ben realizes he might actually be a halfway decent spy…if he can survive all the attempts being made on his life
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Amazing book, you better read it if you want to be thrilled. Otherwise get the fuck out.
Ben is delighted when the CIA asks him to join an elite spy school. But when his life is endangered within hours of arriving on campus, he begins to rethink things. Can he stay alive long enough to find out who wants to kill him? Yes, the book is aimed at kids, but I had a blast reading it. The story moved quickly with some good twists, and I really liked Ben.
It is a really fun book to read and it has lots of action and unpredictable moves!
I think it was a good book because it had just the right amount of the things you want to happen, but also has a few twists.
Read this with my Book Club for Boys (3rd and 4th graders) and we all loved it!
Ben Ripley gets signed up for a top secret spy academy by a James-Bond-look-a-like who drinks Gatorade, Alexander Hale. (With a name like Hale, all my alarm bells are ringing, but I’m still guessing how it will play out.)
Ben has a gift for math–level 16–so it seems like he got into school because he’s a math whiz. Until he arrives and everything gets turned up side down (including Ben) by Alexander’s ace spy daughter, Erika.
I was surprised at the high level of language and spy vocabulary–big words go flying by in the middle of combat scenes–but the story is a smooth as a spy’s backstory. This story has all the things you expect from a spy story: non-stop action, shifting loyalties, who-should-I-trust and how-do-I-stay-out-of-trouble in a place where nothing is as it seems. It’s lots of fun!
This book is an energy drink for a long trip or a lazy summer afternoon that needs excitement. Pure entertainment! Surprisingly, it is gratifyingly low in violence.
One of my favorite books ever!!!
The storyline is really fun. An average 12-year-old boy is selected to go to Spy School, which is pretty cool. And, like all schools, this one has all the great characters you’d expect to meet, bullies and all. But, when his life is suddenly placed in danger, things get crazy and all kinds of drama and adventures unfold.
What I liked: Great story line! The characters are intriguing and realistic, especially the main character, who thinks it’d be really cool to be a spy and get the girl, but finds out pretty fast that it comes with a lot of danger as well. And, anytime you have an ordinary kid thrown into extraordinary situations you have a great plot.
What I did not like: This novel would probably get a much higher rating, but one thing really bothered me about the book…it has curse words. I wouldn’t mind as much if they were used in context of heightened emotion (ie–he gets super mad and a curse word slips out), but they are thrown in so casually that they took me by surprise each time, enough to pull me out of the story, and that’s bad. The author could’ve easily told the story without them. That’s fine for YA, but not for middle grade.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
It gave me my daily dose of laughs and it was one of my personal favorites
I think its the best book I read all year
I really like the plot of this book and how the author, Stuart Gibbs, wrote it.
It can be a very exiting book to read.