April 22, 2025 by HarperCollins
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Riley Trent, who has a massive number of severe allergies, is on a field trip in New York City to the American Museum of Natural History with his twin sister, Kate. He is constantly bothered by Dylan, whose parents are tenants of the posh Fifth Avenue building where Riley’s parents are managers, and when Dylan puts oak blossoms in Riley’s backpack, there is a chase that ends in a tent with a sign that says “Do not enter”. Dylan disappears, and before we know it, Riley and his classmates are turned into animals. They eventually discover that the culprit is a historic piece of poop, and set off to uncover the mystery. Sarah is turned into a parrot and taken to the zoo, so the group heads there to rescue her. Once they break her out, they try to get her to talk to Dylan and Riley’s parents at the apartment building, but the parents chase off the “beasties”. They head back to the zoo, and get a tip to talk to “Uncle Chester”, a coyote who holds the key to the antidote. This involves a mystery, and the children have to find the Proteus 2 asteroid as an antidote. At the end of the book, the children are approached to be elite spies, using their shape shifting abilities. There are a large number of endnotes; in the e arc, these were clickable, but it looks like the print version might require turning to the back to read these.
This reminded me a little of The Forgotten Five #1 Map of Flames by Lisa McMann or even London’s The Wild Ones, with the children’s escapades across the city while trying to function as a rat, raccoon, parrot, etc. This had a lot of adventure and humor, with the interplanetary poop being the catalyst for the transformation. There’s a bit of character development, with the over-the-top spoiled rich kid Dylan becoming a little more pleasant. Lerangis has a tendency to do shorter (often three book) series like Max Tilt: Fire in the Depths, Throwback, and Seven Wonders, so I imagine that we will soon find out more about the Beasties.
April 8, 2025 by Delacorte Press
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Lucy Spagnola is excited to receive an invitation to the Wildlands Safari Escape Challenge, but is leery of attending because her last visit ended badly, with her freaking out on an observation platform. Her sister Alex is an intern at the site, and encourages her to go, because there were very few students asked. The competition pits the middle school age students against the interns, competing for a spot in the intern program, which Lucy still really wants despite her fears. Lucy feels inadequate, and often compares herself to her sister or mother. Along with Adam, Amelia, Isaac, Emma, and Amelia, Lucy sets off to compete in the escape room style competition, with lots of puzzles. There are even notes reminding readers to grab a pencil and paper to work on cryptograms, anagrams, crossword, and other puzzles. While traveling around the Wildlands looking for clues, the children start to realize that Tabora, an elephant calf, has been separated from her mother and appears to be chased by men from the neighboring Happy Time Farms. Will Lucy be able to overcome her anxiety in order to work with the other competitors to solve the puzzles and save the calf? There are many footnotes explaining a variety of topics.
Richards, who also wrote 15 Secrets to Survival (2023), does a good job at portraying outdoor adventures, and Lucy’s anxiety is very on point with current trends. I was enthralled at the setting; since Richards is from Ohio, I’m convinced that the Wildlands is modeled on The Wilds, a nature preserve for large animals that opened in Muskingum County in 1994 (https://www.thewilds.org/). I took my children there years ago, and it is a fascinating place. Since I’m not a fan of puzzles, I found that the huge number slowed down the story for me, but readers who like books like Grabenstein’s Mr. Lemoncello’s Library or Currie’s The Mystery of the Locked Rooms will love this one.
Lucy Spagnola is excited to receive an invitation to the Wildlands Safari Escape Challenge, but is leery of attending because her last visit ended badly, with her freaking out on an observation platform. Her sister Alex is an intern at the site, and encourages her to go, because there were very few students asked. The competition pits the middle school age students against the interns, competing for a spot in the intern program, which Lucy still really wants despite her fears. Lucy feels inadequate, and often compares herself to her sister or mother. Along with Adam, Amelia, Isaac, Emma, and Amelia, Lucy sets off to compete in the escape room style competition, with lots of puzzles. There are even notes reminding readers to grab a pencil and paper to work on cryptograms, anagrams, crossword, and other puzzles. While traveling around the Wildlands looking for clues, the children start to realize that Tabora, an elephant calf, has been separated from her mother and appears to be chased by men from the neighboring Happy Time Farms. Will Lucy be able to overcome her anxiety in order to work with the other competitors to solve the puzzles and save the calf? There are many footnotes explaining a variety of topics.
Richards, who also wrote 15 Secrets to Survival (2023), does a good job at portraying outdoor adventures, and Lucy’s anxiety is very on point with current trends. I was enthralled at the setting; since Richards is from Ohio, I’m convinced that the Wildlands is modeled on The Wilds, a nature preserve for large animals that opened in Muskingum County in 1994 (https://www.thewilds.org/). I took my children there years ago, and it is a fascinating place. Since I’m not a fan of puzzles, I found that the huge number slowed down the story for me, but readers who like books like Grabenstein’s Mr. Lemoncello’s Library or Currie’s The Mystery of the Locked Rooms will love this one.
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