Charlie Numb3rs and the Man in the Moon

Charlie Numb3rs Adventures #2

by Ben Mezrich, Tonya Mezrich

Charlie is recruited to use his mathematical prowess to discover what happened to a box of stolen moon rocks in this follow up to Bringing Down the Mouse .

Charlie Lewis is really good at math. So good, that he’s approached by a mysterious woman who needs his help. The woman is carrying an incredible an actual moon rock, one of the most valuable objects on Earth, and she’s investigating the theft of a box of moon rocks from NASA’s vault at the Johnson Space Center, and believes the stolen rocks are now in the possession of a former astronaut.

Although she claims to work at NASA, Charlie suspects she is something else—but he decides the adventure is too good to pass up. Charlie and the whiz kids go undercover by entering the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s paper airplane contest, and head down to the nation’s capital. Working together, they master the principles of aerodynamics, wind science, and gravity to excel in the competition.

Charlie must decide how far he’ll go to solve the mystery of the stolen moon rocks; is he willing to betray a new friendship? Or has he unwittingly been drawn into something even bigger than some missing chunks of the moon?

208 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 2017

About the author

Ben Mezrich has created his own highly addictive genre of nonfiction, chronicling the amazing stories of young geniuses making tons of money on the edge of impossibility, ethics, and morality.

With his newest non-fiction book, Once Upon a Time in Russia, Mezrich tells his most incredible story yet: A true drama of obscene wealth, crime, rivalry, and betrayal from deep inside the world of billionaire Russian Oligarchs.

Mezrich has authored sixteen books, with a combined printing of over four million copies, including the wildly successful Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and sold over 2 million copies in fifteen languages. His book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal – debuted at #4 on the New York Times list and spent 18 weeks in hardcover and paperback, as well as hit bestseller lists in over a dozen countries. The book was adapted into the movie The Social Network –written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher – and was #1 at the box office for two weeks, won Golden Globes for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score, and was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3 including best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin shared a prestigious Scripter Award for best adapted screenplay as well.

Reviews

[Wellington · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like a paper airplane, this book was like a smooth flight. It was like background music. Unfortunately, I wanted a roller coaster and rock and roll. Give me twists and turns.

This is a sequel to Bringing Down the Mouse (I didn't read this one). This time NASA recruits Numbers (Charlie) to find stolen moon rocks and he brings along his friends to join a national paper airplane tournament as a ruse to get closer to the thief.

I realize that I'm not the target demographic for this book. But I did find the storyline simplistic and the characters flat. And also the book hit one of my pet peeves of stupid passwords, twice.

For me, the book could have been saved if I felt an emotional connection to the characters. But I didn't ... so this book just gets two stars from me.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Charlie Numbers. This was a great middle grade novel that was entertaining, had an interesting plot and a setting that involved a paper plane contest. How fun would that be to compete at building paper airplanes. I'm not a science whiz so I can't speak to the actuality that a paper plane could fly 180 feet or more; it certainly was believable.

In reading this, it was apparent that Charlie had another adventure that tested his mathematical skills yet this book completely stood on its own. And I look forward to more adventures of Charlie and the Whiz Kids.

The publisher provided me with an eARC. This was my honest review.

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.