Spy School Goes North (Spy School #11)

Gibbs, Stuart. Spy School Goes North (Spy School #11)
October 3, 2023 by Simon Schuster Books 
ARC provided by the publisher

After the devastating events in Spy School: Project X, Ben finds himself in Alaska, in a remote and antiquated training base with Cyrus, Mike, Erica, and Zoe. While Ben still needs a lot of training, he is getting better at spying, and even identifies that there is a bear in the area when the group are working on their rappelling skills. When Cyrus is kidnapped by the Russians, the group looks through his things and decides he must have been taken to Fort King. Erica, determined to get her grandfather back, has everyone stock the training helicopter with supplies, and they set off. Erica's flying technique needs work, but she is still good at taking down attackers once they arrive, and Mike's out-of-the-box thinking has the group smearing chocolate frosting (who doesn't travel with tubs of that?) via slingshots on the security cameras so that the bears destroy them in search of a sweet treat. Even Ben manages to take down a guard! They find Cyrus having tea with Ivan Shumovsky and his granddaughter Svetlana, who looks like the evil twin of Erica. Cyrus and Ivan have butted heads before, and Ivan is still convinced that the US took advantage of Russi when they bought Alaska from them back in the 1800s. He's determined to take his revenge, and has a Doomsday project he means to implement unless Cyrus can prove the US wasn't culpable. Ben and his crew realize that the "Operation Hornswoggle" that Ivan thinks is behind this was really an operation that Croatoan was behind. With the notes incinerated and none of the members on speaking terms, the group heads out to find th eone person who might know something-- Murray Hill. Murray is alone on an island (ala Mary Malone) inhabited mainly by flatulant walruses, with little to do but study native plants and try to figure out the WiFi password. Of course, he doesn't want to cooperate and poisons the group in a very clever way and escapes. Luckily, Tina Cuevas, who has worked with Ben in the past, realizes that something is up and comes to the island to check on the group. She's working to prevent animal smuggling, but is able to help the group out. They meet with Ivan and discuss their findings, but they don't have enough and Ivan is determined to go through with his destructive plan. Luckily, Svetlana works against her grandfather because she doesn't agree with his, and also because she and Zoe shared a riveting glance and turn out to have a mutal crush. Can the group locate Ivan's notebook and stop his evil plan before he manages to blow up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? And what will Murray be up to in the next book? 
Strengths: To underline how popular these books are with my students, I had to jump the queue and read this October title in early May because the publisher sent me a physical ARC, and I knew a handful of students who would gobble it up! I don't know how Gibbs continues to churn out quality books (like Gordon Korman, he has at least two a year!), but this was filled with his trademark humor, adventure, and clever ways of saving the day. I do like that he includes some romance for his teen characters, because that is completely realistic, and Zoe's feelings of lonliness are understandable, and the way she explains them to Ben make a slightly unlikely situation ring true. There are so many good details about flying helicopters, tromping through the Alaskan wilderness, and investigating decades old spy doings that I always feel like I could totally be a spy when I finish reading one of these books, even though I don't think that's true. Ben is an engaging character who knows his weaknesses and isn't afraid to leave the beating up of the enemy to his girlfriend. I'm interested to see where Murray leads the group next, and to see if the group manages to get back into society. Maybe, like Ben's parents, they'll be given a new life in San Diego. 
Weaknesses: While I adore these books, series that are this long pose a problem for a school library. Sometimes it feels like half of my book orders are sequels, and it breaks my heart when I deaccession a series that is no longer circulating (Sic transit, Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard) and find that the ninth book has only been read thrice in a dozen years. 
What I really think: Of course I'll buy this. It's a great book. It sort of reminds me of my weird obsession with Lillian Jackson Braun's 1960s Cat Who books that got a second wind in the 1980s and went on to about 30 books. I even bought the paperbacks when I couldn't find them anywhere else, which was highly unusual for me, especially at that time. But it wouldn't hurt my feelings if Gibbs' gave us some shorter series like Moonbase Alpha with the same great characters and funny writing. 

Reynolds, Jason and Peña, Zeke. Miles Morales: Suspended
May 2, 2023 by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Marvel's Miles Morales first appeared in 2011, after the fictional death of Peter Parker. His story has been told in Reynolds' previous Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2017) as well as Justin A. Reynold's graphic novels Shock Waves and Stranger Tides, as well as comic books and movies. In Suspended, we find Miles struggling with multiple issues at the Brooklyn Visions Academy, the elite boarding school he is attending. He's not a fan of living away from parents Rio and Jeff, who are not only supportive of him, but also of Black culture and social justice issues. The school struggles to understand and properly discipline students of color, and employs problematic teachers like Mr. Chamberlain, who doesn't teach history properly. Miles' parents are called to school when he is wrongly accused of stealing sausages from the cafeteria and of breaking a desk, and he eventually lands in In School Suspension for his accumulated actions. Is part of this due to the evil force of the Warden, who has a long history of mind controlling teachers and influencing their actions to be racist? ISS is horribly boring, and Miles and the others assigned to this punishment have packets of work to be turned in, administered by Coach Holt. She largely ignores them and reads the newspaper. Miles is preoccupied with the fate of his cousin Austin, who is in jail, and during a fire drill he talks to Mrs. Tripley, the helpful school librarian, and asks is she would consider helping him run a book drive to get books to send to his cousin. The fire drill ends in some scuffles, and there is an increasing amount of strange stuff going on. Miles sees termites, not only around the building, but coming out of the mouth of Tobin. Tobin has been accused of damaging library books, many of which are commonly challenged in school libraries. As Miles works on the packet, he thinks about how the school is failing Black and Brown students by not providing the books they need for projects, sometimes because the books have been challenged. Why is Tobin, a self professed book nerd, damaging books? Clearly, some evil forces are at work. Will Miles, or his alter ego, Spider-Man, be able to defeat them?

In Reynolds' hands, even a super hero story can be elevated to a lyrical commentary on social justice. Unlike Miles Morales: Spider-Man, this is more than just a super hero tale. It's a thoughtful rumination on many social justice topics, it includes a lot of poetry, and there are even illustrations by Peña. Much of the book is almost stream of consciousness, as we delve into the deeper questions behind why Miles was really put in ISS. 

Don't worry; there is an epic battle scene, but it does come late in the book. Miles also goes out on the street as Spider-Man and catches a pickpocket, but there are not as many standard super hero scenes. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of Peña's illustrations, either. 

Superhero tales are always in demand, so add Suspended to the growing number of novels set in the Marvel universe, along with Smith's The Black Prince and Spellbound, Stone's Shuri series, Gratz's Captain America graphic novel, and Hale's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. 

I'm not entirely sure that my super hero fans are going to finish this; it is a bit on the longer side, and poetry is not a big hit with my students. This will probably be more successful with Young Adult readers due to its tone, size of print, and philosophical orientation.