I am no stranger to children's books or stories for much younger people. I am in my thirties but I still enjoy reading stories that appeal to the child in me. The story I am reviewing today is a middle grade series.
6th Grade Revengers: Cat Crimes and Wannabes is the first of the series. This involves two 6th graders, obviously. Jared and his partner revenger, Marcus, who happens also to be his best friend. Jared, is a spy-wannabe. He wanted to attend a spy camp and has to come up with the money. He came up with the idea that he will help people who wanted their problems to go away --like a bully or an annoying boyfriend. So, together with Marcus, he set up a website where people can hire the services of the revengers anonymously. Their first assignment was to get rid of a cat that terrorized a street in their neighborhood.
This was a fun read. Jared and Marcus' intentions were very noble and a very creative way to raise money on their own without resorting to anything illegal, immoral or cheating anyone. Instead of Jared asking for money from his parents to fund a hobby, he opted to find his own way. I wish all 6th graders are like these two. I think their first job was to be considered a success after numerous tries and their persistence was just admirable. Their second project, which was Gunner, turned out to be better than what they have wanted. Their plan did not work out the way it was intended but it was ridiculously amusing and a chance of a lifetime Gunner has been waiting for. I could say, these two had a future of making this business venture work. Not to mention, they are actually really good in helping people solve their problems. That purpose alone was bound to make these two successful and worthy of imitation.
Granting that this was a book written for a younger audience, I was glad that I still find this amusing and entertaining. It wasn't written in a way that an adult won't find the story boring or less stimulating. It was a really good adventure and I was rooting for the boys to get rid of the cat. This felt like a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew kind of book except, the cases the boys handled were not as complicated and criminally-inclined. The cases for the Revengers were trivial and more commonplace yet required a lot of cunning, creativity, and persistence in getting them resolved.
I give the book 4/5 evil cats. This book screamed creativity and persistence. I guess those two traits are what most people forget when we become adults. Some of us become too carried away by the business of adulting that we sometimes had to set aside our creative side and become too preoccupied to even stop and smell the roses. Persistence, for most of us adults had turned into obsessions. The obsession to excel, to succeed, to get rich and so on. We are too obsessed of getting what we want that we don't care if we hurt people on our way to the top. This two boys will help remind us that we can still do what we most to achieve, at the same time help people, earn praise or money to enable us to further reach our goals.
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