Never Say Genius

The Genius Files #2

by Dan Gutman

Today is Coke and Pepsi McDonald's thirteenth birthday. Someone's out to make sure they never make it to thirteen and a half.

Racing across America,
the twins will nearly be
BOILED ALIVE
in a huge basket of french fries,
FROZEN TO DEATH
by soft-serve ice cream,
STAMPEDED
in a wild stadium riot,
KIDNAPPED
from a high-speed
roller coaster, and
WORST OF ALL
their parents think
they're totally joking!

Will they survive? Will they defeat Archie Clone? Will they be dropped out of a helicopter onto the tip of the Washington Monument? Will they ever say "genius"?

Genres: Adventure, Middle Grade, Fiction, Mystery, Childrens, Audiobook, Humor

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 24, 2012

About the author

The author of over 80 books in a little over a decade of writing, Dan Gutman has written on topics from computers to baseball. Beginning his freelance career as a nonfiction author dealing mostly with sports for adults and young readers, Gutman has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the time-travel sports book Honus and Me and its sequels, and a clutch of baseball books, including The Green Monster from Left Field. From hopeful and very youthful presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman's fertile imagination. As he noted on his author Web site, since writing his first novel, They Came from Centerfield, in 1994, he has been hooked on fiction. "It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD."

Gutman was born in New York City in 1955, but moved to Newark, New Jersey the following year and spent his youth there.

Reviews

[Lindsey Gandhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic series!!!

[Lorna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I am really not the intended audience for these books, I will merely say this: if kids love books where kids get in and out of completely preposterous situations, they will love it. I can only suspend my disbelief so far...

But I must say this -- these people are the wimpiest travelers ever! From page 79: "It was June 26. They were about seven hundred miles from Washington, and they hoped to get there at least one day early to explore the capital before Aunt Judy's wedding on July Fourth. So they had about seven days to travel seven hundred miles. About a hundred miles a day. That was reasonable." I realize they are making stops at oddball sites, but SEVEN days from Chicago to DC? One hundred miles a day? Good grief, I read this book on a one-day 180-mile each way trip to return some items to my parents home. When I was a kid, we would often make the trip from Indiana to South Dakota (~14 hours) in ONE day! Weenies.

But, major thumbs up for including the Big Egg in Mentone, Indiana. I've been by that probably 100 times! :)

[Brinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing!!!!! It was so funny, but it left me on a cliff hanger.

[Pamela Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Genius Files #2: Never Say Genius' by Dan Gutman continues the fun and hilarity of 'The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable.'

Pepsi and Coke, enrolled in a secret program for geniuses, are still targeted for murder by the creator of the program, Dr. Herman Warsaw.

Don't worry if you haven't read the first book, although Gutman seriously urges the readers to stop reading this sequel, "So get a copy of that book and read it. Then come back and start this one again. Go ahead. I'll wait."

But even Gutman has a heart. "Fine, don't read 'The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable.' See if I care. Basically, this is what happened..." And he gives a lovely three-page synopsis. But reading it is certainly better than getting the abridged version. Really.

Pepsi and Coke are still on their cross-country trip with their parents. Their parents have rented an RV to take across the country to attend the wedding of their aunt. Their mother has not spoken with her sister for many years, and this is the first attempt at reconciliation.

Continue reading on Examiner.com 'The Genius Files #2: Never Say Genius' by Dan Gutman -- a great sequel - National Book | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/book-in-natio...


Read the whole review at: http://www.examiner.com/book-in-natio...

[Aayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a major adventure book and a great sequel to "Mission Unstoppable." My opinion on this book was that it was good and was very descriptive. The main characters Coke and Pepsi are on their way to their aunts wedding. I am not going to spoil it so lets leave it at the trip goes terribly wrong and so does the wedding. Coke and Pepsi are very enjoyable from their traits. They are normal teenagers who pretty much disagree about everything with their parents. The difficulty of this book is about 4th grade reading level. I recommend this book to you because it has suspense, action, adventure, and comedy. The one thing I didn't like, and this apples to most books, it leaves you off on a major cliff hanger.

[Jake Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really great. Although it is kind of a book that 5th graders will enjoy, I still enjoyed it very much. I like the part when the McDonald twins get kidnapped. They were taken on a helicopter and were going to get dropped at the Washington Mounument. But, they escaped back to the building they were at. The twins had a frisbee grenade and threw it at the helicopter Archie was in. Archie died and they were safe from danger for a while. overall this book was great for young readers and I really recomend it.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first. It was more repetitive, and wasn't as interesting to me. I think part of that had to do with the fact that I listened to this. The cyphers and google map sections just didn't translate to audio very well.

On a side note: I loved the Peru Indiana part. I grew up very near to there and it was cool that it was in book.

[Nithusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an good book but it drags but I couldn't stop reading it

[Jake Funaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

STUPENDOUS BOOK PEEPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: The Genius Files: Never Say Genius (#2)
Author: Dan Gutman
Read by: Michael Goldstrom
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Length: Approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes (5 CDs)
Source: Kewaunee Public Library – Thank-you!

The McDonalds epic trip across America continues in The Genius Files: Never Say Genius. Coke and Pepsi McDonald have been selected to be in a top secret “genius files” program for super smart kids. As secret (even from their parents) government agents, they will get $1,000,000 as an adult graduating out of the program . . . or so they thought. Discovering that the one million dollars will be split up amongst all members of the genius files, an evil villain, Archie Clone, is eliminating all other kids in the genius files so he can be the sole collector of the million.

The McDonalds trip starts right where book one left off, in Wisconsin, and continues to Washington DC. We listened to the majority of this audiobook on our family trip to Michigan and back and finished it up while back to school shopping. My 11 and 9 year old sons had read the first book this past school year as part of the Kewaunee Library youth book club and had enjoyed it. The kids loved book two, especially my 9 year old son Daniel. He now has an obsession with visiting places that were highlighted in the first two books, in particular The House on the Rock in Wisconsin. He liked the humor and the adventure. A lot of the humor for me at least is when Coke and Pep tell their parents exactly what is going on and then are met with a chuckle from their parents who are sure they are making it all up. The book ended with a cliff hanger. We’ll be checking out the audiobook of book #3 for our next family trip!

The narrator was excellent in this audiobook with great voices for all of the characters. My only annoyance was that he read out the web address each time one was mentioned in the book. I think for the audiobook it would be okay just to say go to Google Maps and type this in.

Overall, Never Say Genius was an entertaining book for the entire family and a great audiobook for a family trip!

This review was first published on my blog at: https://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2017...

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it may not be fair that I'm an adult reviewing these books that are clearly intended for elementary aged children. Although I have children and I liked to read up on things they might enjoy. I enjoyed book 1 of the series more, it was a bit of a novelty, I learned a little about US History, and the adventures the kids had were mildly entertaining.
Hoever, this book continues the story of Coke and Pep, on their journey across the US, in danger from individuals in a "secret" government agency which in actuality is a bit of a joke. Kids would probably still enjoy the antics of the kids and the "baddies" as they continue their adventure. However, it's not really different from the first book. And, the author starts something which I have to say was REALLY annoying, especially given I was listening to the audiobook. Maybe he thought it was funny, and the first time or two it would have been, but he continues it through the entire book and it becomes more and more just an interruption to the story. Almost every time the family continues their trip from one city to another, the book says: "Go to http://maps.google.com (or whatever the address is, it is given letter and symbol complete and perfect), click on directions. In the first box type __ (whatever city they are currently in), in the second box type ____ (the city they are headed towards). Click "get directions", etc. etc.", and like I said this is repeated OVER AND OVER enough that I think it would annoy even a kid reading the book. Clearly nobody is going to actually DO this on the computer while you are reading the book, and repeating the "joke" over and over just makes it annoying.
But, if your child read the first one and liked it, they might enjoy continuing with Coke and Pep in their adventures . . . just don't expect it to be your favorite series . . .

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series about twins that find themselves on all sorts of adventures while it seems someone is after them. Wonderful read for my son. we started when he was around 8 and we are still reading them. As you might guess we are not running thru them, in part because we live in rural America and out library is lacking and in part because he likes to take a break between.

I have seen mixed reviews on these books, but we take them for what they are outlandish fun of children. The great part is we learn about the U.S. 'Travel traps' along the way. We have even made a trip to some of them ourselves because of the stories.

Love them!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, my family is starting to grow tired of this series. I need to insert here that we are listening to the audiobook. The verbal description of the searches on Google Maps is getting tedious. In a physical book, I would be able to skim the search image and pull the pertinent information, but that isn't possible with an audiobook.
With that feature already grating on our nerves, other oddities are standing out and rubbing us the wrong way. We're getting tired of the recaps of previous books, and being instructed to go read something, research something, or do something.
I think we're still going to finish the book, but my children's groans will accompany all of the above situations.

[Mh Weyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Just rather stupid and highly improbable. The main characters (both good and evil) are not likeable enough to make the story and while the first one held my interest having just visited a lot of the sites out west, this one felt more rushed and forced as if the author wanted to include every odd and unusual site in the Midwest and northeast. And the author kept interrupting the story to tell the reader to google the map. Good idea once, annoying the second time and downright obnoxious the third time and beyond.
I think I’m done with the series.

[Arrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself was pretty exciting and suspenseful, and every so often had you racing to turn the page to see what would happen next. For that case, I rate this book 4.3 stars.

The first book was a bit better than this book, though. Also, the dad on this story overused the words: "You kids sure crack me up" every time they told him something and he didn't believe it. But, it still was a good book-

[Jim Prevott · Rating 5 out of 5]

for the audiobook. Coke and Pepsi MacDonald having joined the "Genius files" program are still crossing by RV. with their parents. Crossing America visiting every weird spot their parents take them to with giant balls of string, weird medical devices, singing sand dunes while dodging the bad geniuses that want too put and end to them. A series very wild adventures across America featuring famous and weird stops along the way.

[Brenda Wharton · Rating 4 out of 5]

book #2 in the series
Coke and Pepsi are on their way to Washington DC for their aunt's wedding. on the way they run into Archie, who tries to get rid of them at the McDonald's exhibit, the rock & roll hall of fame and Cedar Point. The twins try to tell their parents what is going on, but the parents thinks it's all a big joke or overactive immaginations

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty annoying. It reads more like a travelogue than a book. The kids are geniuses, but they don't do anything clever except throw out a few random facts and get themselves out of being killed in cheesy ways over and over again. I totally skimmed over the middle, hoping the end would be less disappointing. It wasn't.

[Patrick]

I thought it was spectacular do to that face that Coke and Pepsi were getting threatened by Bad people, that go by the name of Bolar Dudes and Mrs, Higgins, and Many others!. The best parts of the book were the cipher's that kids were given during there vacations. The reason why I like this part is that I want to become a person to decipher unsolved ciphers. But I can't wait for Book 3!!.

[Connor Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel did not let me down. People always say the second installment can not be as good as the original, but they are wrong. This book has exactly what the first book had, but more of it. So overall, I really enjoyed this book, so thank you Dan Gutman!

[Stormi (StormReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the second one as the Mcdonalds travel on to Aunt Judy's wedding. Bad guys are all around and you never know when they might strike and the ending made me half to dive in to book three!

[Kenzie Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is just like the last one: funny, but poorly written, with plot twists you can see from a mile away. It's definitely more geared towards younger readers who just appreciate the laughs, rather than whether their book is well-written or not.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids love these books. As the series moves along, I keep asking, "Could these kids' parents be any more clueless?!?!" In this installment, the McDonald family actually visits some places I've been to, so that was fun. There is quite the cliffhanger at the end of this book.

[Amanda Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

TBH most of my reading of this book was listening to R listen to it via read-aloud in bits and pieces. As so it reads like a random collection of adventurous activities in which two enterprising children are pursued by evildoers.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordered Genius Files #2-5 (delivered 5/19/21), after A finished the first one as a read aloud at school and absolutely loved it and begged for the next ones. First real chapter books with few pictures she’s reading (normally a graphic novel/Dork Diaries type reader). So PROUD!

[Erin Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids enjoyed this book that I read aloud to them. There's lots of facts about American history and geography along the way. I could do without the bad guys trying to kill the kids all the time, but that is the plot 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. A lot of the same stuff as book one. Still no answers though. Listened with my 4th grader. He thought it was funny still. He did not care for the reoccurring “go to google maps, put in …” I think probably just because it happened repeatedly.

[Kacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 - This has been fun reading with Henry. He really enjoys it. He got excited and read a chapter ahead of me after I stopped reading one night, and then wanted to tell me everything that had happened. :)

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

All kids must read this novel!!

[Mureithi · Rating 5 out of 5]

They almost died.