Review / Kid Spy: Mac Saves the World

Book: Kid Spy: Mac Saves the World (2021)
Author: Mac Barnett
Genre: Lower MG, Espionage/Historical
Series: Kid Spy #6

Opening lines from the book …
This is my dad’s house. It is on the top of a hill in a town called Oakland, California. That a real place. You can look it up. When I was a kid, every other weekend I went to my dad’s house. This was one of those weekends.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK…

1) We finally get to meet Mac’s dad in this one. I love how he dealt with the comparison between the different homes (Mom’s house vs. Dad’s house) and then connected it to the split-city of Berlin. The story takes place in 1989, by the way! Which brings me to…

2) I always love the historical tidbits in these books. This one deals with the Berlin Wall and how it came to be. And also the story behind the mistake that led to its fall! (I hope that’s not a spoiler!)

3) There are some funny nods to mistakes in language, and how Mac thinks he knows the meaning of a word, only to find out that it means something completely different! (While I’m not fluent in German, I do know enough to pick up on the mixup before it happens! However, it isn’t necessary to speak German as the book nicely explains it all.)

4) The Queen! Okay, she is my favorite recurring character in the book. I love her. And I hope the real Queen reads these books. I think she might appreciate the humor 🙂 And of course, you gotta love Freddie the corgi.

5) I liked the ending with … wait, I won’t spoil it. But it has to do the the gift given by the Queen to Mac. And yes, the ending makes the most sense if you’ve read the other books!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed this latest installment of Kid Spy! In fact, I might venture to say it’s the best (or one of the best) of the books. Although, I do think it’s a good idea to read the series as a whole, you can read it as a stand-alone. Looking forward to the next one. (While this one does wrap up the series nicely, the door is left open a crack for a new one…)

 

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YOUR TURN…

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Note: I’m posting this for Greg Pattridge’s Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday…

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