When I was growing up, I had a.) a crush on this boy named Danny and b.) a really tweaked way of showing it: I wrote him into a continuing adventure story. Let's see... we were in the police academy, and he was the daring young... Cadet who solved real-life crime scenarios with me at his side as trusty sidekick.
And no, none of you will ever see those horrific hack jobs from when I was thirteen, but the Spy High series from A.J. Butcher, a British English teacher once saved from a playground pounding pounded because he could tell good stories, reminds me a little of my own peculiar genius.
Six unique individuals make up Bond Team, one of six training groups at Deveraux Academy, fondly called 'Spy High' by all of its students. Each of them have talents that the team can use, and should, but each of them have hang ups -- too proud, too shy, too much of a follower, and too angry. A unique mission gives them a real-life chance to iron out their differences, and the wildly adventurous storyline is well grounded in characters who are different enough to remain real, but 'average teen' enough to not make the spy thing too big a deal. There are four books in this series so far, two team stories, and two stand-alones, and I look forward to recommending them to any YA adventure readers, boys or girls. I read the first one in a short sitting over dinner, completely ignoring everyone else in the room. Good times.
2 comments:
Did Danny like them? Did you get the boy? Agh. The questions without answers. You torture me, my friend.
My dear girl -- you don't think I ever showed them to him, do you!? No, no. We become writers so we don't have to talk to people. The story Danny was much better -- far more heroic. I threatened to give the Real Danny poison oak.
Thirteen. Such strange ways of showing we care...
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