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Korman, Gordon.
MASTERMINDS
New York : Balzer + Bray, 2015
IL 3-6, RL 5.2
ISBN 0062299964

(2 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1


Your life is perfect- Your town is perfect- Serenity, … New Mexico. Population- 185. Kids-30.

No crime, no poverty, no unemployment, what more could anyone want or need?

Why would anyone want to leave Serenity? Could they leave even if they wanted to?

13 year old Eli and his friend Randy soon discover mysterious illnesses occur when the kids try to pass the town border.  Eli is hit with waves of crimpling nausea and paralyzing pain. Memories become vague.  Randy doesn’t seem to suffer the same illness, but fate has something else in store. Within days, Randy leaves town.
No one has ever left town. What could this mean? As Eli discovers the clues Randy left behind for him, he enlists the help of an unlikely crew of his peers. The clues mount, and evidence is gathered as the kids discover Serenity may not be crime free after all. Slowly they realize the grown-ups they trust might just be the criminals they should fear. Follow the journey of Eli, Malik, Hector and Tori as they slowly find out the town’s secrets and unravel the mystery of the disappearance of their friend Randy.  (Booktalk by the NH Great Stone Face Committee)


Booktalk #2

Do you like adventure? If you do, then you wouldn’t think that Serenity, New Mexico would be the place for you. However, as Eli Frieden discovers, things are not always as they seem. In fact all of the great homes, swimming pools and peace and plenty are a cover for something dark and sinister. Eli isn’t quite the honest, upright citizen that Serenity values. He longs for a little adventure. One day, he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens that it changes everything. Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and it soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. Get to know Eli and find out what lies below the perfect face of the town called Serenity. (Prepared by: Beth Kelly, Chapin Elementary School, mekelly@lexrich5.org, South Carolina Book Awards, 2017)

SUBJECTS:   Cloning -- Fiction.
                        Experiments -- Fiction.
                        Criminals -- Fiction.
                        Science fiction.    

 
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