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Summary
Summary
Nothing exciting ever happens to boring Dex at his boring home or at boring school. He oversleeps (again!), he daydreams while his science teacher Mr. McFur babbles on about his lab rat Princess Pretty Fabulous (Pretty for short), he gets harassed by Millicent (the neighborhood meanie): boring, boring, ultra-boring! Then one day, a mystery man convinces Mr. McFur to feed Pretty radioactive gamma broccoli, which turns the rat into a rabid rodent the size of a hippo and launches Dex into an underground world of kid spies and rat gas power.
Suddenly Dex's life doesn't seem so boring anymore! But who was that mystery man? What does he want? And most importantly, can a boring Dex shed the boring to become the most unlikely hero in spy history?
Author Notes
Jay Cooper has a MS in nutrition and is the director of the diet program for the Green Valley Health Spa in Green Valley, Utah. Since 1979, Cooper has been professionally involved in wellness and weight loss programs. He is a long-distance runner who has competed in 24 marathons, a tri-athlete and a former body builder. He is also a cancer survivor.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cooper, illustrator of the Food Trucks! board book, makes his debut as author with a whirlwind, Spy Kids-esque adventure, first in the Spy Next Door series. Dex Drabner's dull life in Girder City gets substantially more exciting after the third grader stumbles into a plot involving flatulent rats and radioactive broccoli, then joins an underground organization of young secret agents, the Super-Secret Spy Kids. Cooper's b&w cartoons fill the pages, crammed with puns and jokey asides ("Chard!" shouts Dex as he attempts to take down a giant mutant rat with a Gas-B-Gone pill). Much like Dex aboard his flying skateboard, the jokes don't always stick their landings, but fans of over-the-top slapstick silliness will find plenty to laugh over. Ages 7-10. Agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Bookmark Literary. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In Mutant, boring third grader Dexter Drabner dreams of being a skateboarding spy like Toby Falcon; when his rat-flatulence-collecting science teacher accidentally turns a pet into a mutant monster, Dex's dreams come true. Curse finds the newly minted skateboarding spy-hero facing a mummy's ancient curse. This new series is chock-full of cartoons and slapstick situations reminiscent of Captain Underpants but with less successful humor. [Review covers these titles: The Spy Next Door: The Curse of the Mummy's Tummy and The Spy Next Door: Mutant Rat Attack!] (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Third-grader Dexter is impossibly boring. There's nothing special about him, unlike Dexter's idol, Toby Falcon, a world-famous professional skateboarder and star of the Skate Spy movies. Things change when science teacher Mr. McFur makes the incredible discovery that rat farts can produce energy. With the help of an intelligent skateboard, Dexter is recruited by the Super-Secret Spy Kids Local Girder City Chapter to be a spy in disguise, just like Toby Falcon. His first mission is to stop a rampaging giant mutant rat and recover a cluster of illegal radioactive gamma broccoli. Cartoonish grayscale illustrations dominate the pages, making this series starter a quick read. The irreverent humor in the text is mirrored in the exaggerated characters and their over-the-top facial expressions. The narrative loses its continuity at times, but there's plenty of high-tech gadgets and fast-paced chases to keep readers engaged. Chock-full of lowbrow potty humor, this giggle-inducing, skateboarding adventure will have great appeal for fans of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series.--Seto Forrester, Amy Copyright 2016 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Unlike the plethora of books featuring secret agents and dangerous missions, this one centers on an artificial intelligence skateboard and a spy leader with an eye patch. Dexter, a very boring student with very boring parents, wishes for a life of adventure and accidentally finds it. Dexter stumbles upon a secret meeting between his eccentric science teacher, who is trying to harness the electrical power of rat farts, and an unidentified mustachioed man with gamma broccoli and a probably nefarious plan. It is up to Dexter to become the next kid agent, along with a skateboard sidekick, to keep his school safe after the rats become mutated and wreak havoc. With illustrations littered throughout, this will appeal to reluctant readers, with irreverent humor and action that will keep kids turning the pages and waiting anxiously for Agent SK8's next outing. VERDICT Good for general purchase or for collections lacking in "Captain Underpants" read-alikes.-Ashley Prior, Lincoln Public Library, RI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Dexter cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but, um, where am I?" he asked timidly. The eye patch turned on him. "You are an unauthorized intruder in the headquarters of the Super-Secret Spy Kids, Local Girder City Chapter. And I'm Big K. The Big Kid in charge. Like it or leave it." Dexter pointed at the skateboard. "And that flying skateboard is...?" "A traitor." She scowled. The skateboard flew into another flurry of frazzled bleeps and static blips in response. "All right. All right. Simmer down. Maybe not a traitor, but a..." Big K snapped her fingers. "A rogue agent. How's that sound?" The skateboard, against all probability, nodded at her. "How can a skateboard be a rogue agent?" Dexter asked. "When he loses me my best agent and his ex-partner, Toby Falcon. You want an explanation? We're going to do this in flashback mode. So hang on!" Dexter couldn't believe it. "Toby Falcon was a for-real spy?" "Was is the operative word," Big K snarled. "When he was about your age, we teamed him up with a Battery Operated Artificial Reasoning Device (B.O.A.R.D. for short). B.O.A.R.D. is actually a superspy computer that the government spent over a million dollars to create." "They were a great team, secretly toppling evil regimes, spoiling evil plots, defeating bad guys left and right. "But they couldn't stay out of the limelight. They started entering skating competitions...and winning. Eventually Hollywood called. Toby couldn't say no to fame and fortune. He forgot the very first rule of the Super-Secret Spy Kids...STAY SECRET! "Now I've lost my best spy just when I need him most. This has to be the work of the stolen gamma broccoli!" Excerpted from Mutant Rat Attack! by Jay Cooper All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
