Snowize & Snitch

March 1, 2016
Hoping to find her lost guardian, Doctor Professor David Ezratty, 12-year-old Ever Indigo Nikita Stein teams up with a pair of detectives battling the forces of the evil ColdCorp Corporation. When Doc disappears, a crow from the future brings Ever a message: save the detectives. But who are they? Following a holographic message left in her guardian's laboratory, Ever solves this first mystery by going through a formerly forbidden tunnel that takes her to the office of Harry Snowize, in denial about his imperfect memory, and Snitch, a giant African pouched rat that communicates in sign language. These are the defective detectives. This elaborately constructed and bizarrely detailed adventure is full of slightly off-kilter references and scene changes. From South Africa to Zimbabwe, Japan, and Spain, and back to Cape Town, the unlikely trio pursues the problem of disappearing scientific minds. Occasionally they're joined by Doc's perpetually angry robot refrigerator. Ever has a useful photographic memory, but she also has an attitude problem of her own. Struggling in school, the sarcastically nicknamed "Einstein" believes she's "a magnet for bad luck." Briner plays with quest-adventure tropes, but it's the elaborate vocabulary and play with words that will appeal to her audience. Ending with a grand semantic twist, this convoluted caper even offers a satisfying solution to the mystery of Ever's missing parents. Finished interior illustrations were not seen, but the cover depicts Ever and Snowize as white. For able readers looking for the unusual. (Adventure. 8-12)

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May 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-A middle grade adventure that hooks readers right in the first chapter with a strong female character and a cryptic message from a crow about her missing parents. Ever Indigo Nikita Stein is enrolled at the School for Gifted Children of Genius Parents-even though her genius parents are missing and presumed dead. She is pulled into an adventure when her guardian, legendary Doctor Professor David Ezratty (otherwise known to students as "Scatty Batty Ezratty" and the creator of invisible ice cream), goes missing and it is up to Ever to find him. With the help of the Highly Effective Snowize and Snitch Detectives (a onetime spy and a dignified rat), the characters, along with a "mean-spirited robot fridge," embark on a long journey through time to find all of Ever's missing relatives. Ever is a successful underdog forced to rely on her wit and humor and her oddball team as they race through an international quest to find the missing geniuses and capture the evil mastermind.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Grades 3-7 Time travel, a secret spy agency, thwarted love, and corporate espionage combine in this madcap middle-grade novel. Ever Indigo Nikita Stein barely remembers her parents, who vanished one night under mysterious circumstances and left her in the care of eccentric inventor Doc. When Doc also disappears, the 12-year-old is left a cryptic trail of clues to follow. With the help of Harry Snowize, a former superspy disabled by selective amnesia, and his partner, Snitch, a rat fluent in sign language, Ever sets off on a wide-ranging journey to find Doc, retrieve the brain of an incapacitated inventor, thwart a criminal mastermind, and maybe learn the truth about her parents. There is a lot of silliness, including some particularly oddball characters, and alert readers will solve the mystery of Ever's parents long before she does. Still, the globe-trotting, insanely creative inventions, and satisfying endinghappy without being perfectwill appeal to readers who fancy a bit of derring-do.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
After twelve-year-old Ever's genius guardian Doc goes missing, she seeks help from the titular Snowize (a forgetful detective) and Snitch (a rat who communicates via sign language). As the trio travels the globe in search of Doc, the stage is set for a thrilling adventure, but it is ultimately diluted by an overabundance of hijinks and trying-too-hard cleverness.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)