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The Atomic Weight Of Secrets Or The Arrival Of The Mysterious Men In Black (2011)

by Eden Unger Bowditch(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1610880021 (ISBN13: 9781610880022)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Bancroft Press

series

The Young Inventors Guild

review 1: I've always been fascinated with science and inventions. I've always said, when I see a new nifty product, why didn't I think of that? I'm still waiting though for someone to invent the backspace button on landline telephones.....it sure would make my flying fingers happy! Five children from different places in the world are all the children of famous inventors. Jasper and Lucy have a good home life but they really don't have any friends. Everyone at school makes fun of them, including their teachers. They can't help it they are so smart. Noah travels constantly. Not because his father is a great inventor but because his mother is a famed opera singer. Faye is a daughter of a wealthy scientist and Wallace his a really intelligent chemist, but very lonely since his mother d... moreied and his dad is always working. The children are all shocked when the men in black come and take them away. Their parents tell them to basically be good and to stay invisible, out of the radar. But the men in black won't tell them where their parents are. Then, the children are taking to a remote farm to be schooled. The all fall in love with Miss Brett, the schoolteacher, who teaches the children things they didn't know. Things such as cooking and fun childrens books. She pays them all attention and they love her for it. But after weeks go by with still no word from their parents, the kids decide that they must have been kidnapped and they must rescue them. But another strange person arrives at the schoolhouse and he is not as nice as Miss Brett. He means to find the "Thing" and he will remove anything in his path to get it, including the children. The Atomic Weight of Secrets is a marvelous adventure for young teenagers or even adults. I fell in love with the children, but I do believe young Lucy is my favorite. She is so innocent, yet wise. The men in black are truly unique and made me laugh with their apparel. Black duck feet, black tutus and just plain anything they could find black. Very eccentric! I absolutely loved this book and look forward to the next installment in the series to see where the children go next. It will be hard to top this one!
review 2: in a sentence or so: without warning, five brilliant children are taken from their scientist parents by some very strange men wearing very strange black outfits and are left wondering where their parents are, how they can get back to them, and most importantly - do their parents even want to be found?Jasper, Lucy, Faye, Wallace and Noah aren't your typical kids from 1903. turns out they're quite brilliant. you could argue it's good genes, given that their parents are all brilliant scientists...or it could be that they are just inventive, creative, and clever kids. either way, they are just like your run of the mill kiddo when it comes to the love and trust they place in their parents. that trust is painfully questioned when they all end up at the Sole Manor House. the kids realize that they all arrived under similar circumstances - the very oddly dressed men in black took them from their parents, dropped them off with a nanny in Dayton, Ohio, and provided absolutely no explanation.two things are for certain: the kids want to be with their parents and they want some answers. since none of their nannies or their teacher, Miss Brett, can explain anything, they'll have to combine their little genius brains to get to the bottom of what's going on. while the kids hatch a plan of escape, they begin to discover pieces of their parents past and are surprised to find there was much they didn't know about them.i loved the individuality of each character. Jasper the leader, Lucy the observing and unabashedly caring youngest, Faye the spoiled beauty, Wallace the square-peg-in-the-round-hole, and Noah the funny man. through flashback chapters, we slowly learn about each of their pasts and their arrival to the Sole Manor House as well as their familial history. through these back stories we gain insight into their characters that compliment their roles in the escape plan. coming together isn't easy for these kids, but they know it's crucial to work as a team if they have any hope of finding their parents again.i appreciated the dualism that drove this book. with the dual title being the most obvious example, each chapter has a primary and secondary title. for example: "The Soprano's Son or Noah Shares Someone Fit for a King". see! how cool is that? mostly, i appreciated the dualism with the kids. obviously being brilliant gives them a capacity to grasp complex concepts and problem solve like the most clever of adults, but being children means that they still have the needs, wants, and desires of kids. they spend hours in the lab creating compounds and designing engineering wonders, but they still want the hugs and kisses of a mother with a bedtime story. the complexity of their characters made connecting with this read a breeze. in a way, the book reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia (which is a HUGE compliment) in the intricate child characters dealing with problems that are so big and so overwhelming in an absolutely realistic and emotional way.this read grew on me with each chapter, with each new discovery, and with each freaky plot twist. i didn't realize this was the first in a series, so i was a bit curious how everything was going to wrap up. surprisingly, we do get a solid amount of resolution to tie up some loose ends while the Larger Questions wait to be explored in the next book. this was clever, creative, and stretched the imagination.fave quote: "Mostly, they learned that, however unsure they were about the rest of the world, and however much they didn't fit in with most teachers and students, they were sure Miss Brett cared, they had each other, and they were all in this together." (131)fix er up: this started a bit slow for me, but once i committed to reading a few chapters at a time, i couldn't put it down. less

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