07/09/2018
“One minute you are just a kid. The next minute you are a secret agent for the Queen of England,” deadpans a boy named Mac, who narrates Barnett’s (The Terrible Two) riotous series debut as an adult recalling a 1980s childhood caper, insisting that the story is true. After receiving a call from the Queen tasking him with finding missing Crown Jewels, Mac flies to London. When he arrives at the Tower of London, the Queen suddenly appears, surrounded by a dozen corgis, and distills some British historical jargon, including “regicide” (“my least favorite type of ‘cide,’ ” the monarch quips) before outlining the case. Mac’s madcap quest takes him to Paris and Moscow, where he encounters the French president and a KGB officer before returning the stolen British heirloom and the Mona Lisa. Some unfortunate caricatures—French people portrayed as rude, Soviets yearning for American jeans—may detract from the narrative for some, but goofy, two-color pictures by Lowery (the Doodle Adventures series) ramp up the silliness of this adventure (kids will snicker at the sight of Mac flying home in his tighty-whities), which should snare even the most hesitant readers. Ages 7–10. Author’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)

Praise for Mac Undercover (Mac B., Kid Spy #1):A New York Times bestseller!An Amazon Best Book of 2018* "Barnett and Lowery bring the funny to the serious art of espionage in a perfect interplay of text and illustration...Barnett interweaves tidbits of global history fit for trivia lovers, while Lowery's comic-style images play a key role in the humor...Told with a sense of nostalgia for 1980s history and pop culture, the silliness and originality of this book will hook young readers." — School Library Journal, starred review"Barnett takes his readers on a fun-filled ride...Barnett's tone throughout the story is humorous, lighthearted, and a little glib, and the over-the-top story is sure to appeal to many readers...an enjoyable romp that will leave readers salivating for the sequel." — Kirkus Reviews"[Barnett's] riotous series debut as an adult recalling a 1980s childhood caper...goofy, two-color pictures by Lowery (the Doodle Adventure series) ramp up the silliness of this adventure...which should snare even the most hesitant readers." —Publishers Weekly"Barnett's knack for both quirky situational humor and heartfelt sentiment work in tandem to create a balanced-while still outrageous-early-chapter-book caper. Lowery's frequent cartoony black, yellow, and blue spot illustrations are integral to the narrative, providing clues to eagle-eyed readers and enhancing the humor." —The Horn Book"Barnett's series falls squarely in line with works from Jon Scieszka's and Dav Pilkey's oeuvres, offering kids another solid choice for what to read next." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"Funny as a crumpet. (But truly, secretly a hundred times smarter.)"—Jon Scieszka, author of Caldecott Honor The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and the New York Timesbestselling series Frank Einstein."With a perfectly absurd premise, dialogue that demands outlandish accents, and a plot that interweaves global history and complete silliness, Barnett royally nails it." —Abby Hanlon, author of the Dory Fantasmagory series.Praise for The Impossible Crime (Mac B., Kid Spy #2): :An instant New York Times bestseller!"Barnett opens his casebook again-this time to solve a classic locked-room mystery...Almost every page contains Lowery's illustrations, loosely drawn and garishly colored in green and orange, which give the whole affair a zany feel that is much enhanced by the narrative with its running gags. Kudos to a pint-size Poirot, pre-Mustache!" - Booklist"Barnett's signature dry wit and snappy back-and-forths, particularly between the ingenuously sincere Mac and the standoffish Queen, keep the story steadily moving forward; a convoluted historical account of Colonel Blood's attempted robbery...Lowery's cartoony spot art, in black, green, and orange, provides additional historical and cultural information and frequently supports the narrative." - Horn Book"Barnett and Lowery team up again in this second outing of international espionage mystery with royal overtones... this is a nifty mystery for young readers and a worthy sequel to the first." - Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Top Secret Smackdown (Mac B., Kid Spy #3):"Exciting action sneakily infused with points about the relationship between reality and story, delivered by a narrator who can claim with literal truth that he saved the day "on porpoise." — Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Mac Barnett:[Mac Barnett is] a great young writer of books for young people. If you haven't read his work, run somewhere and do that. Books for young people have a rich and I daresay limitless future—knock anyone who says otherwise into a ditch—and Mac has a central place within that limitless future. Don't bet against him or anyone like him." —Dave Eggers"[In Barnett's books] there is no magic solution to any problem: The characters stumble through their dilemmas just as every one of us does. The world is a difficult yet good place, and there is no need for the typical rose-colored lenses that other children's books put on situations in order to fend off the bad stuff." —Yiyun Li"He is a believer that picture books can have Swiftian absurdity and untidy endings, and that 'life is absurd, and kids know that.'"— The San Francisco Chronicle

★ 07/01/2018
Gr 3–6—Barnett and Lowery bring the funny to the serious art of espionage in a perfect interplay of text and illustration. Barnett, known for his award-winning picture book collaborations with Jon Klassen (The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse; Sam and Dave Dig a Hole), slyly premises this "childhood memoir" by explaining how he works as an author, i.e. someone who gets to make stuff up. Young readers will not get too hung up on the ins and outs of truth vs. fiction as young Mac B., kid spy, ventures from his home in California to England to fulfill a secret mission for the Queen. Along the way, he loses his Game Boy on the plane, suspects the KGB, talks crumpets vs. cookies with her Majesty, teams up with Freddie the corgi, steals art from the Louvre, and learns he reached a higher score on SpyCraft than the King of France. Throughout, Barnett interweaves tidbits of global history fit for trivia lovers, while Lowery's comic-style images play a key role in the humor, from imagining why the Mona Lisa smiles, to depicting the Queen with goofy unicorn pajamas, and topping it off with an ending page bound to provoke giggles. VERDICT Told with a sense of nostalgia for 1980s history and pop culture, the silliness and originality of this book will hook young readers.—Jennifer Gibson, Keuka College, NY

2018-05-28
When the queen of England calls, you'd better answer the phone.Barnett takes his readers on a fun-filled ride across two continents in a mostly not-true adventure starring his childhood self. In this version, young child-of-the-1980s Mac is living in Castro Valley, California, when he receives a telephone call from the queen of England. The queen is missing some valuable treasure and needs Mac to retrieve it for her. While on the case, Mac travels across Europe in an attempt to find the thief and return the treasure to England. Barnett's tone throughout the story is humorous, lighthearted, and a little glib, and the over-the-top story is sure to appeal to many readers. The references to the 1980s will appeal to adults who are reading aloud but will likely require explanation for the humor to truly hit home with children. (Yes, American blue jeans were a big deal in Russia in the 1980s!) Lowery's illustrations, rendered in black, blue, and yellow, have an appropriately childlike look; due to both this stylistic choice and the book's overall cheeky tone, it's hard to tell whether the occasional inconsistency with the text and from illustration to illustration is intentional. There is no evident ethnic diversity in the background characters, a missed opportunity for some range in an otherwise white-only story.A few visual quibbles aside, an enjoyable romp that will leave readers salivating for the sequel. (Historical thriller. 8-10)