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Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Location |
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Searching... Varina Library | Children's book | 38674130253956 | JUV FICTION HANNIBA | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
James R. Hannibal presents a thrilling adventure through history, complete with mysteries, secret items, codes, and a touch of magic in this stunning middle grade debut.
Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things. Not just a missing glove or the other sock, but things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace.
But Jack's father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries--and membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack's inheritance.
Now the only way Jack will ever see his father again is if he finds what the nefarious Clockmaker is after: the Ember, which holds a secret that has been kept since the Great Fire of London. Will Jack be able to find the Ember and save his father, or will his talent for finding things fall short?
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Thirteen-year-old Jack and his little sister Sadie come to London with their mom in search of their missing dad. The kids stumble upon the Baker Street Branch of the Lost Property Office, managed by a Mrs. Hudson and established by the Ministry of Trackers. It turns out that Dad is really a Tracker, with a supernatural ability to read clues in stone (one that Jack shares) and he's been kidnapped by a mysterious Frenchman called the Clockmaker, who wants Jack to find the magical Ember, which started the Great Fire of 1666. Jack and a young apprentice clerk named Gwen experience a series of wild adventures through time and hidden, magical corners of the city (think "Harry Potter" meets Dr. Who, with steampunk-esque beetle drones). Jack discovers things about his family and their place in history that are beyond anything he could have ever imagined. Jack is originally described as having behaviors that could put him somewhere on the autism spectrum, but he doesn't show those behaviors past the opening chapters of the book. In fact, the characters are the least interesting part of this tale-it's the highly detailed magical world that stands out. Still, the ride is fast and fun. VERDICT Buy where fantasy flies off the shelf.-Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With his father missing and feared dead, 13-year-old Jack Buckles and his family have traveled to London in search of answers. He finds them with Gwen Kincaid, a 12-year-old clerk at the Lost Property Office, part of "a secret society of detectives that has served the Crown for centuries." Jack discovers that his father is a member of this Ministry of Trackers, and Jack has tracker abilities, too: he is "hyper-observant" and synesthetic, and his brain can pull memories from minerals. To save his father from an evil Frenchman, Jack and Gwen must find a mysterious jewel called the Ember. Their quest takes them to famous sites throughout London, which is one of few highlights in an otherwise convoluted story that, while creative in concept, suffers from overwriting. Adult author Hannibal (the Nick Baron series) belabors the mystery component of this first book in the Section 13 series; wordy descriptions of the scenes where Jack "sparks" on memories from minerals and Gwen's repeated ignoring and belittling of Jack's questions both cause the story to drag. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Discovering that everything he kneweven his name!was a lie is only the beginning of a very weird day for 13-year-old Jack Buckles. All-American white boy Jack stumbles across his secret heritage as a forbidden 13th generation of top-secret trackers with supersensory abilities, operating under the cover of the Lost Property Office. He teams up with Gwen Kincaid, spunky white Ministry of Trackers clerk and detective-in-training, in a mad scramble across past and present London for a mysterious deadly artifact capable of starting a second Great Fire. Hannibal crafts an adventure with brisk pacing but little originality or internal logic. The covert subterranean world of the Elder Ministries is cobbled together from high-tech gimcrackery, steampunk affectations, and coy allusions to British literature both famous and obscure; the clues shaping Jack and Gwens quest are mostly tourist-y factoids. Jack is the stereotypical chosen one hero; even untrained, his neuroscientific gifts might as well be magical. Clever and competent Gwen is too often reduced to bouncing freckles and expository infodumping (usually withholding crucial details to manufacture artificial suspense), while Jack always fights just a bit better and solves the most important riddles. The villain is a cartoon of a sinister Frenchman; the rest of (apparently all-white) London is populated by clichs: tea-sipping constables, starchy bureaucrats, and h-dropping oafs. Mindless entertainment. (Adventure. 11-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Hannibal's lively debut employs magical detection to unravel the mysteries surrounding the Great Fire of London in 1666. Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles and his little sister are visiting London while their mother searches the city for their missing father. When the siblings stumble upon the Lost Property Office, young apprentice clerk Gwen reveals that not only was their father a tracker (a clandestine government detective), but Jack is destined to be one, too. This information has barely had time to register before a cryptic message arrives from the Clockmaker, demanding that Jack bring him an artifact called the Ember by midnight or John Buckles dies. With the help of Gwen (and her slightly too convenient knowledge of London history and the Ministry of Trackers) and an ability to read objects' histories, Jack embarks on a high-stakes quest to save his father. Hannibal imaginatively delves into history by linking Jack's search for the Ember with London's historic fire. This fast-paced start to the Section 13 series will please readers who like their mysteries with fantasy and action.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2016 Booklist