Holiday Blast from the Past--Kringle by Tony Abbott

Hey, guys, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are now in holiday mode. If you're not, I have just the book for you. It's Kringle by the great Tony Abbott. I first read this book about 8 years ago and have recommended it at the holiday season several times since then. And for a good reason--it's a terrific story! A rich epic fantasy about how Santa Claus became Santa Claus. "Oh, man," you might say about now, "not another sugary-sweet story about Santa." Not to fear, reader guys! This is a real good-vs-evil struggle between the badly-outnumbered good guys and  the goblins, the mean, nasty, vicious bad guys. Those who crave excitement, danger and adventure in their books (and what GUY doesn't?) will really enjoy this one.

I tell you, there just seem to be no end to Mr. Abbott's talents. He can write full-length thrillers like the amazing Copernicus Legacy series, fantasies or mysteries for younger readers like The Secrets of Droon or Goofballs or a mystery book for older guys like The Postcard, one of the most terrific books I've read--and they're all really, really good! No matter what sort of book you like, Mr. Abbott's has probably written one that you'd enjoy. Be sure to check your library and Mr. Abbott's website to see.

PS--click the "Kringle" label under this post to see my reviews from the past. (if you do, say "hi" to the Kandy Kane Kid)

Unstoppable: Breakaway and The Copernicus Files: The Forbidden Stone

Greetings, fellow reader guys! We've survived the month of the Mushy Holiday; in fact, a lot of us survived something far worse--the SNOWPOCALYPSE of 2014!! Yes, my brave and hearty guys, the snow came and covered huge portions of the country this month.  Especially in Charlotte. Yes, the snow came in thick and heavy but did it stop the MANLY MEN in Charlotte? Never! You see a picture of us manfuly going out to get our bread and milk.  And did the snow stop the Iron Guy from getting to the library?  HA!! I just hitched up my trusty dogs and mushed on in.

Well, I'm just being goofy, of course. The schools and libraries were closed for almost a week. It made for a minivacation and it was fun, sledding and making snow ice cream. And I got some reading done. Some it related to my 2014 resolution but these books caught my attention and I just had to tell you about them first.

Unstoppable: Breakaway by Jeff Hirsch


Everything stops when a new 39 Clues book comes out. This third series is proving to be every bit as fun and exciting as the other two. Dan and Amy are still leading the charge to find the components to make the antidote for the Cahill serum. Why? Because J. Rutherford Pierce, owner of a giant media conglomerate, has discovered the serum and is on a fast track to world conquest. They, along with Jake and Atticus Rosenbloom, travel to Tunisia for the second ingredient, only to find it exists only in a place that--well, many people thought never existed! Meanwhile, Nellie Gomez infiltrates the Trillon laboratories to see what connection it has to Pierce's plans. What she discovers shocks and scares her--and it will do the same for you!
And Pony, their resident computer hacking genius, finally meets the ultimate computer hacker--who is working for Pierce! Along the way, the Cahills meet Pierce's serum-enhanced goons and are called criminals by major newspapers. Plus the responsibility of leading the Cahills drives Amy off the emotional deep end, causing her to take hugely dangerous mission to the Arctic alone. Guess who she meets there--that's right, more of Pierce's henchmen! Can she possibly survive? Can any of the Cahills? Could anyone? You've got to read this one to find out!


The Copernicus Files: The Forbidden Stone by Tony Abbot

Now I didn't know about this one and was intrigued. It's all about guardians of a 400-year-old secret that could change the world, an evil organization that will stop at nothing to find it and some kids who unexpectedly find themselves caught up in all this and must solve puzzling riddles to find pieces of the old secret.

Wait a minute--does this sound familiar?

All 39 Clues fans would immediately shout, "YES!" Some would even think it'd be a rip-off series but I knew better. How'd I know?  Because of the author, the wonderful Tony Abbot. He's written a lot of terrific books for guys of all ages, such as The Secrets of Droon, Kringle and The Postcard. So I figured this one would be good and I was right! Mr. Abbot spins a tale that really hooked me and I spent all day with it until I reached the very end!
Wade Kaplan's dad is an astronomer, giving Wade a love for the stars. His uncle Henry even gave him an old star chart, beautiful and mysterious. But then a cryptic email from Uncle Henry puzzles him and before he and his father can figure it out, they learn that Uncle Henry has been murdered! They go to Berlin for the funeral but learn there was more to Henry than they guessed. And then they find out that their home back in the US has been broken into! Pieces of puzzles start coming together and soon they are on the run from the shadowy organization that wants the pieces of the secret and routinely wipes out people who get in their way. Wade and his family and friends have to outwit and outrun the bad guys in creepy old tombs, dense jungles and tropical caves. But what could simple and ordinary kids and grownups do against ruthless worldwide killers?
As I said, this one hooked me and it'll hook you! It's got everything that we love about The 39 Clues--action, narrow escapes, truly bad villains, exotic locations and characters we come to know and cheer for. Don't waste any time, guys! Go and check it out NOW!! You'll be really glad--and then you'll be holding your breath for the next one.

And if you've read either or both of these books, write in and tell us!

"It Was Summertime in the City..." A Great Time to Catch a Hot Mystery Like The Postcard by Tony Abbott!

It was summertime in the city, one of those July days In Charlotte when it gets so hot you could broil a burger right on the pavement. That day started like any other for the Bill and Carl Detective Agency. We'd been tracking down books that no one else could find. I was beat after spending hours helping anklebiters find The Cat In the Hat or assisting pretty young things look up another princess book. Yeah, it takes a tough guy to do a tough job like that, but even a tough guy gets tired and I had to take an overdue siesta. No sooner had I put my feet up, then the phone rang.














"Hello--who is it? A blonde? Send her in!" I'm always glad to rescue a blonde in distress.

Well, no sooner had I clapped eyes on her that I knew she was like no dame I'd ever seen before. (or would ever want to see again!!)

"Oh, Mr. Carl, my client wants you to take this case!

"Your client? Who is he, the Fat Man? "

"No, the Tall Bearded Dude. Besides, you've got no room to talk!"

"Never heard of The Tall Bearded Dude. What's he want with me?"

"He wants you to take this case."

"Huh??????? "

"Take this briefcase, you big dummy! He said you'll know what to do when you look inside."

So I took the case. When I looked back, she was gone! Had she been only a dream? A really, really BAD dream??

But this briefcase was real enough, so I looked inside.

There it was--The Postcard, the latest book from Tony Abbott.

So that's who the Tall Bearded Dude was. I'd met him before at the Novello Festival last year. Saw him in the lineup. Even got some straight answers in an interview on 12-13-07. I knew him from The Secrets of Droon books. I'd read his stuff before. To be specific, I'd read Kringle and written about it on 12-20-07 . Pretty good. So I pulled up a chair and began to see what this keyboard-pounder had sent me.

All right, enough goofiness. I just finished The Postcard and liked it a whole lot. Tony Abbott has knocked one another way, way out of the park. Thirteen-year-old Jason, living in Boston, has just learned that his grandmother has died. She had been very old and had a stroke. So Jason has to drop everything and go with his dad down to St. Petersburg, Florida to go to the funeral and sell the old house. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Just what Jason wants to do with his summer. On top of all that, this funeral has made his dad seem more irritable, angry, and upset than normal. There's a lot of strange, mystrious, and unknown things about his grandmother's background. When they get there, all sort of strange things happen. Jason's dad explodes over an innocent line in the obituary, bizarre people that no one knows show up at the funeral, and an unknown person calls Jason on the phone and asks, "How smart are you?" All this seems to be tied in to his grandmother's unknown past. Then, while cleaning out the old house, a old, old postcard drops out of a desk. That postcard and a story in a cheap mystery magazine from the 1940's start yielding answers to the mysteries of his grandmother. But some really mysterious, and possibly dangerous, people seem to be looking for the same answers. Can Jason find out the answers in time? He'll find out that there was a lot more to his grandmother than he could ever have imagined!! You'll really get sucked into this story--you'll even get caught up in the magazine story that runs through this book. This is another of those books that make you want to spend every free moment reading it. Mystery, comedy, suspense--it's here in The Postcard. (This book is best for grades 5 and up)

Now I have to confess that I'm a fan of these old black and white mystery movies of the 1940's. They had real tough-guy stars as the detectives, great people like Humphey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. So I was glad that Mr. Abbott had a mystery tied in to that time. I'm an especailly big fan of stories with mysteries from a long time ago that change the lives of characters living now, just like Jason getting caught up in mysteries from fifty years before. You can imagine, then, that I was going to be upset if this book wasn't good. Well, I was not disappointed! It was everything I hoped a book like this would be. I think Humphrey Bogart said it best:

Yep, this book is the stuff dreams are made of. Go read it, guys!

Carl