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Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad #1
Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad: Absolute Hero
When middle school mishaps happen, five friends from the S.M.A.R.T. Squad use their collective skills and the power of science to bring order to their school.
Science reigns supreme with this squad of young brainiacs. Join Izzy Newton and her friends in the first adventure of this fun new middle-grade fiction series from National Geographic Kids. A crowded new school and a crazy class schedule is enough to make Izzy feel dizzy. It may be the first day of middle school, but as long as her best friends Allie Einstein and Charlie Darwin are by her side, Izzy knows it'll all be okay. However, first-day jitters take an icy turn when Izzy's old pal Marie Curie comes back to town. Instead of a warm welcome, Marie gives her former pal the cold shoulder. The problems pile up when the school's air-conditioning goes on the fritz and the temperature suddenly drops to near freezing. The adults don't seem to have a clue how to thaw out the school. Cold temperatures and a frigid friendship? Izzy has had enough of feeling like an absolute zero. She rallies the girls to use their brainpower and science smarts to tackle the school's chilly mystery ... and hopefully to fix a certain frozen friendship along the way. Will the girls succeed and become the heroes of Atom Middle School?
From the acclaimed co-creator of the American Girl books series, this new series celebrates girl-power, STEM, friendship, diversity, and the power of being yourself.
Science reigns supreme with this squad of young brainiacs. Join Izzy Newton and her friends in the first adventure of this fun new middle-grade fiction series from National Geographic Kids. A crowded new school and a crazy class schedule is enough to make Izzy feel dizzy. It may be the first day of middle school, but as long as her best friends Allie Einstein and Charlie Darwin are by her side, Izzy knows it'll all be okay. However, first-day jitters take an icy turn when Izzy's old pal Marie Curie comes back to town. Instead of a warm welcome, Marie gives her former pal the cold shoulder. The problems pile up when the school's air-conditioning goes on the fritz and the temperature suddenly drops to near freezing. The adults don't seem to have a clue how to thaw out the school. Cold temperatures and a frigid friendship? Izzy has had enough of feeling like an absolute zero. She rallies the girls to use their brainpower and science smarts to tackle the school's chilly mystery ... and hopefully to fix a certain frozen friendship along the way. Will the girls succeed and become the heroes of Atom Middle School?
From the acclaimed co-creator of the American Girl books series, this new series celebrates girl-power, STEM, friendship, diversity, and the power of being yourself.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 8, 2020
32 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Tripp
274 books436 followersValerie Tripp is a children's book author, best known for her work with the American Girl series.
She grew up in Mount Kisco, New York with three sisters and one brother. A member of the first co-educated class at Yale University, Tripp also has a M.Ed. from Harvard. Since 1985 she has lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her husband teaches history at Montgomery College.
Right out of college, Tripp started writing songs, stories, and nonfiction for The Superkids Reading Program, working with Pleasant Rowland, the founder of American Girl. For that series, Tripp wrote all the books about Felicity, Josefina, Kit, Molly, and Maryellen and many of the books about Samantha. She also wrote the "Best Friends" character stories to date, plays, mysteries, and short stories about all her characters.. Film dramatizations of the lives of Samantha, Felicity, Molly, and Kit have been based on her stories. Currently, Tripp is writing a STEM series for National Geographic and adapting Greek Myths for Starry Forest Publishing. A frequent speaker at schools and libraries, Tripp has also spoken at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, and Williamsburg.
She grew up in Mount Kisco, New York with three sisters and one brother. A member of the first co-educated class at Yale University, Tripp also has a M.Ed. from Harvard. Since 1985 she has lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her husband teaches history at Montgomery College.
Right out of college, Tripp started writing songs, stories, and nonfiction for The Superkids Reading Program, working with Pleasant Rowland, the founder of American Girl. For that series, Tripp wrote all the books about Felicity, Josefina, Kit, Molly, and Maryellen and many of the books about Samantha. She also wrote the "Best Friends" character stories to date, plays, mysteries, and short stories about all her characters.. Film dramatizations of the lives of Samantha, Felicity, Molly, and Kit have been based on her stories. Currently, Tripp is writing a STEM series for National Geographic and adapting Greek Myths for Starry Forest Publishing. A frequent speaker at schools and libraries, Tripp has also spoken at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, and Williamsburg.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 19, 2022
Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad: Absolute Hero
Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad, Book 1
I Picked Up This Book Because: I am a fan of the illustrator’s work.
Media Type: Hardcover
Source: CC Public Library
Dates Read: 3/5/22 - 4/14/22
Stars: 3
The Characters:
Izzy Newton:
:
Allie Einstein, Charlie Darwin, Marie, Gina (who are also named for famous scientist but I don’t have my notes with me and I can’t remember who)
The Story:
Overall I found this book cute and adorable. Something I can see a family reading together. Izzy and her friends are starting sixth grade. There is a new (to them), bigger school, new kids and an old friend coming back from sometime overseas. They all learn to work together to figure out solutions to the school's problems and they work together as a team. As someone who works in a middle school I have reasonable doubt to the kids free access to the building but it’s fiction so I let it go.
Writing: Good. It was a cute and fun story.
Forward Motion:The story moved along well.
Overall Interest: I think if I were sharing this story with a child it would have held my interest more but I am not the intended audience so I am not surprised it did not hold my interest well.
Length of Reading Time: This took way longer than it should have for the number of pages. I point to my lack of interest.
Re-read-ability: None
Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad, Book 1
I Picked Up This Book Because: I am a fan of the illustrator’s work.
Media Type: Hardcover
Source: CC Public Library
Dates Read: 3/5/22 - 4/14/22
Stars: 3
The Characters:
Izzy Newton:
:
Allie Einstein, Charlie Darwin, Marie, Gina (who are also named for famous scientist but I don’t have my notes with me and I can’t remember who)
The Story:
Overall I found this book cute and adorable. Something I can see a family reading together. Izzy and her friends are starting sixth grade. There is a new (to them), bigger school, new kids and an old friend coming back from sometime overseas. They all learn to work together to figure out solutions to the school's problems and they work together as a team. As someone who works in a middle school I have reasonable doubt to the kids free access to the building but it’s fiction so I let it go.
Writing: Good. It was a cute and fun story.
Forward Motion:The story moved along well.
Overall Interest: I think if I were sharing this story with a child it would have held my interest more but I am not the intended audience so I am not surprised it did not hold my interest well.
Length of Reading Time: This took way longer than it should have for the number of pages. I point to my lack of interest.
Re-read-ability: None
October 7, 2020
I'm glad to see a book that features girls solving problems through a STEM lens!
While not always realistic , the science themes feel inherently natural to the story rather than being forced in to be cutesy (though the names--Izzy Newton, Charlie Darwin, Marie Curie, and Allie Einstein--are all delightful), and there's plenty of friend drama to keep things interesting. While it would be great if the author were a person of color, most of the characters in the book are; Izzy (the main character) and Gina (a side character) are drawn with brown skin; Charlie is depicted as Latinx; and the librarian is Nigerian.
While not always realistic , the science themes feel inherently natural to the story rather than being forced in to be cutesy (though the names--Izzy Newton, Charlie Darwin, Marie Curie, and Allie Einstein--are all delightful), and there's plenty of friend drama to keep things interesting. While it would be great if the author were a person of color, most of the characters in the book are; Izzy (the main character) and Gina (a side character) are drawn with brown skin; Charlie is depicted as Latinx; and the librarian is Nigerian.
April 9, 2021
An enjoyable start to this series about an all-girl squad who like to solve scientific mysteries. All five girls have unique personalities and quirks, and there are cute black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout that satisfyingly matches the description of each girl.
I thought the mystery was well-crafted, I liked that the solution was one where it could be believable that the adults on the case may have overlooked it and its always great to see girls portrayed as working together rather than at each other’s throats. I don’t love that the girls refuse to take credit for their endeavors but I guess the secretiveness does have a superhero flair to it.
Main character Izzy has some anxiety issues so you feel for her when she seems to be ostracized and you cheer for her when she persists and triumphs over her fears. I particularly loved her in the moment when she chooses to reach out to someone even though she’s felt slighted by that person, it spoke volumes about who she is, a character I’ll be happy to get know better as the series progresses, and hopefully we get to see her play hockey at some point.
I received this book through a giveaway.
I thought the mystery was well-crafted, I liked that the solution was one where it could be believable that the adults on the case may have overlooked it and its always great to see girls portrayed as working together rather than at each other’s throats. I don’t love that the girls refuse to take credit for their endeavors but I guess the secretiveness does have a superhero flair to it.
Main character Izzy has some anxiety issues so you feel for her when she seems to be ostracized and you cheer for her when she persists and triumphs over her fears. I particularly loved her in the moment when she chooses to reach out to someone even though she’s felt slighted by that person, it spoke volumes about who she is, a character I’ll be happy to get know better as the series progresses, and hopefully we get to see her play hockey at some point.
I received this book through a giveaway.
November 30, 2020
First in the S.M.A.R.T Squad series. These five sixth grade girls are excited and nervous to start middle school. Readers see some friend issues as the book starts with a three and two grouping which continues for most of the book. Finally, they actually talk and discover what went wrong in their past friendship. After that, the five of them are unstoppable as they work on science and tech problems. Izzy is determined to figure out why the air conditioning will not turn off in their school. With help from the other four, she tries out various hypotheses. She models how to do this for readers. Love how Tripp slips in the science and technology info throughout the story. Biographies and scientific terms definitions are included at the end.
October 22, 2020
It is set in middle school but the challenges faced don't have a particularly middle school feel to them. I thought there was a bit of a clunky feeling to the whole thing, everything a little too precious and tidy. Very like an American Girl book, which is what this author has been known for since I was personally reading Samantha Saves the Day. BUT! It has diverse girls doing science. It might be a nice read for upper elementary kids who want a smidge of middle school drama but not too much.
August 6, 2021
Frothy, tween sitcom tone, wacky adventures, dramatic frenemy situations solved without lasting damage. The kind of book that adults (and some kids) will loathe reading but plenty of kids will gobble up. I did not like it but I will recommend it to some patrons without hesitation.
https://twitter.com/towntaker/status/... Tweet thread of notes as I read.
https://twitter.com/towntaker/status/... Tweet thread of notes as I read.
January 29, 2025
Tripp Over #1
Izzy Newton & the SMART Squad #1
Nice little yarn in a place where people seem to support each other and focus on good ideas and being creative, although I think if there was such a school that was as cold as that one it would be closed until they sort things out.
Anyway a decent yarn.
Izzy Newton & the SMART Squad #1
Nice little yarn in a place where people seem to support each other and focus on good ideas and being creative, although I think if there was such a school that was as cold as that one it would be closed until they sort things out.
Anyway a decent yarn.
April 21, 2020
The first book in a new chapter series for younger readers, especially those interested in STEM. A great starter series for the kids who love Rosie Revere/Ada Twist/etc books. The many puns throughout the book are delightful.
June 17, 2020
Really fun science-based mystery/problem for the girls to solve. Maybe not 100% accurate on the depiction of the friendships of sixth-grade girls, but the inclusion of science themes and info felt completely natural and not shoe-horned in, so it balanced out in the end for me.
January 27, 2021
I like when Gina Carver said "Izzy is a toxic for likeing ice hocky and S.T.E.A.M"And switchin toxic meaning cool and cool means toxic.I like how she is flipping the words.
Want to read
November 29, 2020Note: I received an ARC of this book at ALA Midwinter 2020.
December 18, 2020
Such a great story for girls interested in STEM. Perfect for fans of The Babysitters Club and Girls Who Code.
Read
August 20, 2021It was a great friendship story and it was overall pretty good.
December 29, 2022
Interesting. I was a bit surprised that the issue wasn't the second theory. I don't know if others reading it today would solve it so readily as incandescents are on their way out. Sadly for a current book this is dated. I also felt that it should not have been kept a secret as what will they do when the bulb burns out - sneak in and replace it again?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews