Omega City

Gr 4–7—Omega City narrowly avoids being a cliché among adventure books for the preteen set. It has a clueless professor dad, a villain so obvious that kids will spot her the moment her four-inch heels click onto the scene, preternaturally intelligent kids, and a secret that could save civilization—if the heroes can get to it first. But Peterfreund packs the novel with so much suspense, history, and science, readers can't help but overlook the traps of the genre and get enthralled in the story. A group of kids—Gillian; her younger brother (by 11 months) Eric; their friend Savannah; space savant Howard; and Howard's older brother Nate—find themselves in a race to discover an invention that could change the world. Their search leads them to an underground city built during the height of the Cold War. There the young heroes are chased and put into life-threatening situations by the villain and her henchmen. The plotting is fast paced and exciting. Readers—like Gillian and her friends—will hardly have time to catch their breath before each new twist and turn.