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Case File 13 #2: Making The Team (2013)

by J. Scott Savage(Favorite Author)

4.16 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062133314 (ISBN13: 9780062133311)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

HarperCollins

series

Case File 13

review 1: Something about J. Scott Savage's Case File 13 series takes me back to my Jr. High School Days.And that's not necessarily a good thing.But, it's not bad either. What I mean is, Savage understands his audience. I won't go so far as to say that his mind thinks like a middle grader, but I have conversed with the author several times and...well, let's just leave it at that.Making The Team is the second book in the Case File 13 series. In the first book (my review of that book can be found: HERE), we are introduced to a trio of gore-loving, mystery-solving, horror-investigating friends as they battle bullies, avoid girls and learn more than they ever wanted to know about zombies.This time, the stakes are higher, so much so, they team up with a trio of...(gasp) girls in order to... more solve the mystery. Savage's characters are pretty fearless, if you think about kids breaking into schools and confronting the undead. The story follows a predictable pattern but, like the first, it's fun and safe for middle grade readers as well as their parents. I think this would be a fun book to read to your kids.There's a third book in the series and hopefully I'll be getting to that soon. Earlier I kidded about J. Scott Savage's state of mind. If you've meet him, you'll understand. He has a kind of energy, especially when he talks about his books. Writing in this genre fits him like a glove.
review 2: There’s a new private school in town, and their football team is unexpectedly good. A grisly discovery on the football field leads Nick, Carter, and Angelo to wonder what exactly is going on at Sumina Prep? In a startling twist of events, they team up with the rival girls from the previous book, Angie, Tiffany, and Dana, to investigate what turns out to be a monster mystery of Frankenstein-esque proportions.Nick and his friends are once again hilarious. Their humor keeps things from getting too dark, and I appreciated their comic relief. As the stakes are higher in this novel than the last, this humor is important.Making the Team also tackles some strong themes of compassion and acceptance with the introduction of a Sumina Prep character and the addition of the girls. The characters are often faced with dilemmas where doing the right thing means choosing the path of MOST resistance, so their characters are tested. In spite of their silly, aloof natures and gross humor, they have character where it counts, and are good role models for a middle-grade reader (and human beings in general).Savage has a firm grip on his audience, and he is brilliant at middle-grade writing. While I’m sure he takes his writing very seriously, he creates a story that doesn’t take itself so seriously, and it’s pure entertainment. One thing that impressed me was the presence of strong, intact families. No one has dead parents, drug-addict parents, imprisoned parents, kidnapped parents, etc. The typical middle-grade novel disposes of the parents in some way to make room for the tween hero to move freely. In this book, and the whole series to date (3 books), the parents are present—cooking dinner, setting curfews, the works. The boys, however, conceal their activities from their parents, which tends to add to the conflict. How do they get to a midnight ritual if they have to be home by dark?Audiobook Review: Andy Paris does an admirable job narrating this. His pace is as little slow for my personal preference, but likely a perfect pace for a younger listener. I wish he'd have differentiated the boys' voices more, but overall, it was a good listen.• No language, sexual issues, or drug/alcohol use• Violence is mild• Some gross imagery, tempered with humor less

Download links for: Case File 13 #2: Making the Team

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