The Prime-Time Burglars

Purple Dragonfly

First Place: Middle Grade Fiction

First Place: Mystery

First Place: STEM

In the latest entry in David Cole’s Math Kids series, math whizzes Jordan, Justin, Stephanie, and Catherine are swept up in high-level intrigue as they unravel a particularly puzzling riddle. 

As with other books in the series, the text furnishes plenty of goodhearted humor, smarts, and suspense. While the Math Kids pull off dizzying mathematical feats, they also remain relatable. They stuff themselves with sundaes, strive not to upset their parents, and make the most of time in and out of school. And entertaining math knowledge is peppered throughout the story, from the math-influenced art of Wassily Kandinsky and Beethoven to the many uses of Pascal’s triangle—the latter of which plays a key role in solving the mystery. 

 The Triangle Secret continues a streak of fun mystery adventures.

This sixth book in the Math Kids series is sure to excite and engage our young math enthusiasts. Clues, numbers, and patterns that can unravel sinister plots! Four fifth-grade friends have to solve a cryptic will left by a very wealthy man. With an added time-crunch, can the kids figure out the code? The reader is prompted to try and figure out the sequences and patterns as they go along. The appendix at the end is sure to delight readers as much as the storyline. Abstract art and math activities are provided to stimulate and entice their young minds. (Ages 10-12) 

The well-plotted, well-written mystery involves bad guys trailing the kids, a kidnapping, a helicopter that lands on the school grounds for them, even a glimpse into the Giza Pyramid in Egypt. Of course, there’s a clock ticking down, so it’s a nail-biter of a read.

Kids who are into math will take special delight in the story, but those with zero interest in math will find themselves not only unable to put it down (thanks to the skilled writing and tension) -- but turned onto math (truly!) before they’re finished.

Clever author, marrying the two concepts. And this is the sixth in a series. Hats off to the author and illustrator.

 The attic had always creeped Brian Bingham out, but now at fourteen, he's too old to be afraid of shadows and dusty boxes. When a strange window appears, he discovers it's a portal to the future. A lot of the things he sees are mundane until he witnesses his best friend's horrifying death. Brian has to stop it. But can what he see through the window be changed or will it offer something much more terrifying?

This is a YA supernatural novel which begins on a fairly ordinary note. Brian is a typical teen, a little timid with the girls, but he has a good heart. It's a contemporary boy's life that is well written. Annoying little sister, cool best friend, parents in a failing marriage, and a new girlfriend. The window itself is a mystery. It appears one day when Brian is fetching a box of Christmas decorations. What he sees is fairly mundane. He finds himself spending more and more time in the attic watching his neighborhood. The window becomes something more when it shows him his friend's death and it snowballs after that. There is a creepy factor in that something so ordinary is something so sinister at the same time.  

 This remarkable novel had me hooked from the first page. It's not enough that Brian Bingham must simultaneously deal with his first love, his parent's dissolving marriage, and plummeting grades. A mysterious portal shows him a terrifying future.

Dave Cole deftly handles themes of family, friendship, and pre-destination vs self determination.

Fans of Before I Fall and A Prayer for Owen Meany will love this paranormal coming of age novel.

Highly recommended. 

  The Window is a novel about growing up and coming to terms with some of the greatest difficulties of life. The protagonist is a teenage boy named Brian who has a lot going on in his life. He’s trying to navigate his first year of high school, which means struggles with grades and figuring out what it means to be in a relationship with his first love, Charlotte. He also has to deal with his parents and their near-constant arguments.

That would be a lot for any teenager to handle. Unfortunately for Brian, he has something supernatural happening in his attic in the form of a mysterious window that predicts the future. After seeing his best friend die in that window, he becomes obsessed. Is the accident inevitable? Can he possibly stop it from happening?

The themes of love, loss, family, and friendship in this novel will surely resonate with young readers who are also learning to cope with these issues in their own lives. 

   Dave Cole's creepy paranormal book is perfect for young adult boys, but girls will enjoy it too. As a retired teacher who's read countless books aloud to elementary-aged kids, I know a winner when I see one, and this book is a winner.

The Window grabbed me with the first two lines: "I was fifteen when I saw my best friend die. Although if I think about it, I was fourteen when I saw him die the first time." I flew through this coming-of-age novel with its unnerving supernatural twist. Fifteen-year-old Brian Bingham is confronted with more than the death of his best friend JK during the worst year of his life: his grades are tanking, his parents are warring, and he is falling in love for the first time. The prospect of someone as clumsy and insecure as him asking someone as confident and beautiful as Charlotte out on a date is terrifying to Brian. But with JK as his enthusiastic wingman, he has no choice but to plunge in.

Dave's prose flowed as I read, his words carrying me from page to page. The characters, their challenges, and the setting have an immediacy and authenticity that I appreciated. Dave has a knack for blending expository information into the narrative seamlessly. The story has a timeless quality about it: It could take place today, years ago, or in the near future.

I don't care how old you are, the sight of a mysterious window where no window exists is irresistible. I'd look through it; wouldn't you? Unfortunately, as we story lovers know, knowledge of the hidden, the inexplicable, and the compelling usually extracts a cost. Is the tragedy unfolding predestined or can Brian change the future? Only time will tell.

Young adult fiction is typically written for readers 12 to 18 years old, but I would recommend this book for avid readers as young as 10 and to the many adults who enjoy this genre. Choosing a book for boys to read is often challenging, but boys will connect with the contemporary issues in The Window.