The Cheerleaders of Doom

Gr 5–7—Fans of Michael Buckley's The N.E.R.D.S (National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society) series will be pleased with this third installment (Amulet Books, 2011) in the popular superspy series. Gerdie, an ex-N.E.R.D, wants to be beautiful like her cheerleader sisters and uses her super math skills to create a machine that transports her into other dimensions. In these other realities, she and her fellow cheerleaders steal artifacts which she sells to finance an extreme makeover. Her inter-world travels have unintended consequences, and Wheezer must disguise herself as a cheerleader to stop Gerdie and her co-conspirator, Simon, from destroying the multi-verse. Behind the tongue-in-cheek humor and uproarious action sequences, Buckley addresses some interesting social questions like the importance of being beautiful, reasons behind extreme behavior, and the hazards of prejudice. As in the previous books, there are clever and humorous interactive segments between chapters. Johnny Heller's performance is a delight. He gives each character a distinct personality, and reads the text with wit and hilarious finesse. The audiobook lacks Ethen Beaver's kid friendly, comic-book-like illustrations, so have the print version available.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT