Tween Tuesday: Young Spies

Tween Tuesday was started by the GreenBeanTeenQueen. Check her out here.

Over the break I read the latest book in the Alex Rider series, Crocodile Tears. I adore Alex Rider. He is a young British spy, I think he is 14 when the first book starts. The series is written by Anthony Horowitz. The series starts with Stormbreaker which is about Alex's introduction into the spy world. His parents had died when he was very young leaving him to be raised by his uncle, Ian Rider. Ian gets killed at the start of Stormbreaker and when Alex decides to investigate the reason his uncle died he discovers that his uncle was a spy working for MI-6 (the British equivalent of the CIA). Alex gets recruited to finish his uncle's assignment. And once he starts he can never seem to get out of the spy game. Crocodile Tears is the 8th book in Alex's series. These books never fail to keep me interested. The first book, Stormbreaker, was made into a movie which I thought was pretty good and did the book justice. It was not a hit, though, so it appears that no more movies are forthcoming, for now. Most of the students I have recommended these to have read and enjoyed the whole series. It's a nice change of pace from all the supernatural/fantasy series that are so popular today.

On the subject of teenage spies, another British series about a more well known spy has caught my interest over the last few years...Young Bond by Charlie Higson. These are a take off of the original James Bond, imagining James' life as a schoolboy in England. He gets caught up in all sorts of mysteries and saves the day in typical Bond fashion. I love these books as well and I think any fan of James Bond movies would likely enjoy these books. They are set in the 40's, though, so I have had a harder time getting kids interested in them. There are five books in this series with Silverfin being the first (although the fifth is not yet available in the United States--grrr.)