James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Laura Park. Little, Brown, $15.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-20693-8
The broad humor that runs throughout this heavily illustrated story from Patterson and Grabenstein masks personal pain, demonstrating resiliency in the face of tragedy. Wheelchair-bound middle-schooler Jamie has recently moved in with his aunt’s...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, read by Bryan Kennedy. Hachette Audio, unabridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $23 ISBN 978-1-4789-2465-4
The Kidds aren’t alright, in this rousing new adventure series from the ever-popular Patterson. When the Kidd siblings discover their sea-faring, treasure-seeking parents are missing, they must take to the high seas to track them down—and dodge a...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein,
read by Jack Patterson. Hachette Audio, unabridged, 3 CDs, 3 hrs., $18 ISBN 978-1-4789-5585-6
In his audiobook debut, reader Patterson (the 16-year-old-son of the James Patterson) gives a heartfelt, animated delivery and, in tandem with the authors, proves that having a robot brother is a premise that does not just entail silliness. The...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Beverly Johnson. Little, Brown/Patterson, $14.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-52396-7
Johnson’s wry sketch of the iconic photo of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue, accompanied by his observation that “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” opens a lively and astute series launch by frequent collaborators Patterson and...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, read by Frankie Seratch. Hachette Audio, unabridged, three CDs, 3 hrs., $17.98 ISBN 978-1-61969-267-1
Patterson and Grabenstein’s book follows the adventures of young Jamie Grimm who dreams of being a stand-up comic. Jamie uses a wheelchair and is plagued by a host of familiar middle school issues: bullies, girls, and family. Many of his jokes are...
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James Patterson with Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Juliana Neufeld. Little, Brown, $13.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-40591-1
Patterson and Grabenstein, collaborators on the I Funny books, launch the House of Robots series, about Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez and his family, whose household brims with robots invented by his genius mother. Fifth-grader Sammy is mortified when his...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein with Mark Shulman, illus. by Juliana Neufeld. Little, Brown, $14.99 (480p) ISBN 978-0-316-20756-0
Patterson and Grabenstein (I Funny) launch another middle-grade series with a tongue-in-cheek tale about four siblings who follow in their treasure-hunting father’s footsteps after he goes missing at sea. Told from the viewpoint of 12-year-old Bick...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Kerascoet. Little, Brown/Jimmy Patterson, $13.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-316-26249-1
Seventh grader Jacky Hart has been the class clown ever since classmates laughed at her stutter back in elementary school. "What's so wrong with wanting to be liked?" she wonders. Now "Jacky Ha-Ha" can't break out of her routine, even though her...
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Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Brooke Allen. Random House, $13.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-553-53602-7
Wisecracking 12-year-old P.T. Wilkie loves the Wonderland Motel in Florida, where he lives with his business-minded mother and fun-loving, fast-talking grandfather, who originally opened the motel. P.T. takes after his grandfather, who has a gift...
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Carroll & Graf $24.95 (310p) ISBN 978-0-78671-818-4
A recovered school ring leads mismatched policemen John Ceepak, a 36-year-old veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and his rookie partner, Danny Boyle, on a search for a serial killer in Grabenstein's flaccid third mystery set in a New Jersey...
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Carroll & Graf $14.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-78671-877-1
At the start of Grabenstein's riveting third novel (after 2006's Mad Mouse
), ad exec Scott Wilkerson makes the fatal mistake of complaining about his driver after a wild taxi ride to Newark airport. Lucky Seven cabs are dispatched from...
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Carroll & Graf $23.95 (322p) ISBN 978-0-7867-1760-6
Grabenstein's second humorous procedural (after 2005's Tilt-a-Whirl
) reunites that incongruous pair, Sea Haven, N.J., police officer John Ceepak, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who lives by the code "I will not lie, cheat or steal
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Carroll & Graf $27.99 (396p) ISBN 978-0-78672-061-3
When kidnappers seize seven-year-old Carlos Acevedo, the son of a U.S. customs agent, on Halloween, Jersey City FBI agent Christopher Miller swings into action in Grabenstein's gripping second holiday thriller (after 2006's Slay Ride
)....
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Carroll & Graf $23.95 (321p) ISBN 978-0-7867-1584-8
An unusual setting (Sea Haven, a summer resort in an unnamed state that sounds a lot like New Jersey) and two police protagonists with contrasting personalities lift Grabenstein's debut mystery. A former military policeman in Iraq, John Ceepak...
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . St. Martin's Minotaur $24.95 (290p) ISBN 978-0-312-38230-8
John Ceepak and his rookie sidekick, Danny Boyle, of the Sea Haven, N.J., police force look into the apparent suicide of Cpl. Shareef Smith, an Iraqi war vet whose body is discovered in a men's room at a Garden State Parkway rest stop, in...
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Minotaur $24.95 (342p) ISBN 978-0-312-38231-5
Grabenstein’s appealing fifth John Ceepak mystery (after 2008’s Hell Hole
) finds ultra-straight-arrow cop Ceepak and his laid-back partner, Danny Boyle, on leave in Atlantic City. Soon after a former girlfriend of Boyle’s, the...
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Chris Grabenstein, Author . Pegasus $25 (304p) ISBN 978-1-60598-089-8
At the start of Anthony Award–winner Grabenstein's enjoyable sixth John Ceepak mystery (after 2009's Mind Scrambler
), the wife of Paddy O'Malley, an entrepreneur whose company has just built a roller coaster on the shore of the
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Chris Grabenstein. Random, $16.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-385-38844-3
Grabenstein (Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library) delivers a science-based variation on the theme of fictional characters being brought to life. When Billy’s mathematician mother, who has been studying the concept of parallel universes, explains to
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Chris Grabenstein. Random, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-375-86900-6
In the fourth book in the Haunted Mystery series, Grabenstein continues the saga of 11-year-old Zack Jennings, who is burdened by his ability to see ghosts. Things have gotten better since he's moved in with his father and stepmother, following the...
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Chris Grabenstein. Pegasus Crime, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-60598-336-3
The cast and crew of a reality TV show, Fun House, invade Sea Haven, N.J., in Anthony Award–winner Grabenstein’s amusing seventh mystery featuring straight-arrow cop and Iraqi War vet John Ceepak (after 2010’s Rolling Thunder). The reality show soon
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Chris Grabenstein. Random, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-375-87089-7
Librarians and English teachers will happily recommend this adventurous romp from Grabenstein (the Riley Mack books), which pays playful homage to books and libraries while engaging readers in a fast-paced competition involving research and...
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Chris Grabenstein. Pegasus Crime (Norton, dist.), $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-60598-475-9
Clever plotting and empathic characterization lift Grabenstein’s eighth John Ceepak mystery (after 2012’s Fun House). Ceepak—now chief of detectives of the Sea Haven, N.J., police—and officer Danny Boyle intervene in a physical altercation between...
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Chris Grabenstein, read by Kirby Heyborne. Listening Library, , unabridged, 4 CDs, 5 hrs., $35 ISBN 978-0-553-55271-3
Billy is spending the summer in a cabin on a lake with no TV, internet, or video games. The cabin’s owner, Dr. Libris, has a large collection of books that Billy is welcome to use if he can find the key to the bookcase cabinet. Needing distraction,...
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Thomas H. Cook. Pegasus Crime (Norton, dist.), $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-60598-467-4
A mood of detachment hangs over the 11 selections in this first collection of short fiction from veteran Cook, best known for his stand-alone crime novels like The Chatham School Affair, an Edgar winner. In stories like “The Lessons of the Season”...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, illus. by John Herzog. Little, Brown/Patterson, $13.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-316-49443-4
When the erudite Pasha (a three-year-old, male, white long-haired Persian born in Russia) and neurotic Poop (a two-year-old, female, gray British shorthair) are adopted by the exuberant Wilde family from a kill shelter in an American town called...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Charles Santoso. Little, Brown/Patterson, $13.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-316-50024-1
Thirteen-year-old Finn McAllister is riding his bike a few days before middle school’s end when a speeding black van forces him over a cliff to his death. But the sharp rocks at the bottom aren’t the end for Finn, who remains on Earth as a ghost,...
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James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Anuki López. Little, Brown/Patterson, $13.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-41156-1
An anthropomorphic feline katt and canine dogg family immediately clash after arriving at Western Frontier Park for vacation. The characters personify stereotypes associated with their species, most markedly the refined, uppity katt patriarch and...
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Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Leo Espinosa. Random House, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5247-7128-7
A nap is a terrible thing to waste. So when a very stubborn pigtailed girl named Annalise Devin McFleece refuses to take one (“NOOOOOO!”), even after her desperate father has taken her on a hopefully soporific stroller ride in the warm sun, a...
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Chris Grabenstein. Random House, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-525-64778-2
After seventh grader Jake McQuade, a dedicated slacker, gobbles a jar full of jellybeans, he discovers that they were an experiment to convey “Ingestible Knowledge.” Thanks to an unprecedented combination of ingredients, he’s now crammed full of...
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Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Leo Espinosa. Random House, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5933-0204-0
In another socially themed picture book from the creators of No More Naps!, young Oliver McSnow responds “NO!” when faced with any ask, big or small. Whether the inquiry is about the necessary (teeth-brushing, getting dressed) or the potentially...
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Edited by Chris Grabenstein. HarperCollins, $17.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-288420-6
Multiple Edgar Award winners and nominees are among the 20 contributors to this engaging anthology of snappily paced capers entailing codes, ciphers, and math and science puzzles. Several gumshoes featured here have demonstrated their sleuthing...
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J.J. and Chris Grabenstein. Random House, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-5247-1766-7
In the married coauthors’ collaborative debut, seventh grader Piper believes that only some people are “meant to shine. Others are better off blending in.” Her mother, who died when Piper was three, was a talented cellist, and her father is a choir...
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Chris Grabenstein. Random House, $17.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-70798-2
Two white-cued brothers who are total opposites team up to win a
cash prize in this The Amazing Race–flavored adventure by Grabenstein (the Mr. Lemoncello series). Puzzle-loving Benjamin Broderick, 12, often finds himself at odds with his athletic...
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ARTICLES
