Andrew North Blows Up the World

by Adam Selzer

A dynamic and hilarious new hero for early middle-grade.

Andrew "Danger" North is no ordinary third-grader. He, his brother, Jack, and his father are spies. That is what Jack has always told him, and everything Andrew has learned from his dad’s favorite spy movies tells him it must be true. When Andrew comes across his brother’s graphing calculator, he’s sure it’s a communication device that will put him in touch with the secret spy headquarters. But instead of punching in a greeting to the spy society, Andrew accidentally punches in a code that might blow up the world! And if that isn’t bad enough, his math teacher then confiscates the top secret communication device and takes it to the mysterious Storage Room B. Now Andrew is on a spy mission to find his brother’s communicator and save the world from mass destruction. Will he be able to save the world?

Genres: Middle Grade, Humor

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Adam Selzer blocked Goodreads on his computer for years but now he's on here, so let him have it. His first book was HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE (now available in a "Now With More Swearing") edition, his next one is PLAY ME BACKWARDS (for satanic young adults), and his best known is probably I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT, a Twilight satire that was not marketed as a satire.

He also writes the SMART ALECK'S GUIDE series and has published a bunch of Chicago history/ghostlore books.

You can also find him under the name SJ Adams, the name he used for SPARKS: THE EPIC, COMPLETELY TRUE BLUE (ALMOST) HOLY QUEST OF DEBBIE, which won a Stonewall honor and made the YALSA popular paperback list.

Reviews

[Paula]

Neither my voracious 8-year-old nor I particularly liked this book. I think the concept is a bit much, a bit meta, a bit too sophisticated for the middle-grade audience, though I hesitate to say that, as I think that the sophistication of that audience is often underestimated.

It's this: the title character believes that his father and his older brother are spies. His entire imaginative life, and many of his actions, are predicated on a large and elaborate framework of delusion, fostered by his older brother's good-natured tall tales. The fact that the brother is lying to him, and that his family is in fact an ordinary suburban family, is apparent to the reader fairly early on. Events and information finally shake Andrew's faith, but at the end of the book he has rebuilt his false worldview to encompass the new information that he has gained.

Ok. Andrew is self-deluded, but he is happy. In a Walter Mitty-like way, the adult reader may consider this an acceptable outcome, but I have serious doubts about kids. This book would be really perfect for a kids' book group, or for a class read, but I think I would be reluctant to shove it at an individual reader and say, "Here, read this!"

[Christiane]

Andrew "Danger" North is sure he comes from a family of spies (his Dad isn't nearly convincing enough to *really* be an insurance salesman, and why else would his 13-year-old brother be such a jerk unless he has been "called up to the pros" and can't share secrets with his little brother anymore?). Andrew accidently programs a secret spy communicator (his brother's graphing calculater) which his teacher takes away and sends to the mysterious, always-locked Storage Room B. Unless, he can find a way to retrieve the communicator, outwit janitor/storage room guard Mr. Gormulka, and still sing a solo in the school musical (wearing a distinctly unspy-like wooly sweater with a squirrel on it) the world is doomed. There is a very fine line in this book between what is "real" and what is Andrew's imagination; I think kids will really get this.

One note: the summary description says that Andrew "spends his time in middle shcool preparing to join the family business". This is incorrect: Andrew is in third grade!

[Kate]

Andrew North is a third grader who is convinced his father and his 13-year-old brother are spies. While borrowing his brother's graphing calculator (clearly a secret spy device) to send a message to the spymasters to recruit him, tragedy strikes - his teacher takes it away. Who KNOWS what will happen if Andrew can't get it back from the infamous Storage Room B before the weekend?

Funniest if you're at least 12, so you can see what Andrew cannot, I think this book suffers a little in that its intended YA audience isn't likely to pick up a book about a third grader without prodding. A clever and quick read.

[Lara]

Andrew believes his brother and father are secret spies. He misses his 13-year-old brother's attention and bears his father's dorkiness by believing they are saving the world. Even his dreary school life is made purposeful by believing all is a test to see if he can join the spy network. At one point reality almost blows up his fantasy world but he manages to hang on to it.

[Dest]

3rd grade hero. Spies.