Phineas L. MacGuire--known as Mac--is a fourth-grader who loves science, but his hopes of winning first place in the science fair are compromised when he has to team up with the obnoxious new kid. Predictable fare as the boys figure out each other's talents and become friends, but Mac and Ben are appealing young men, the supporting characters are likeable, and the message that one should do one's best to get along and to use one's talents is delivered with a light touch.
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
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