CD Giveaway - 33Miles, "One Life"
Ends Aug 4, 2010
The country-pop sound established in their eponymous debut is a mainstay for this album as well, and even adds a little more southern flavor. |
CD Giveaway - Phil Wickham, "Cannons"
Ends Aug 3, 2010
With an opening shot that hits the sonic pinnacle, this collection of spiritual Brit pop/rock is heavily influenced by Keane, Travis, Coldplay, and U2. |
DVD Giveaway: Kick-Ass
Ends Aug 1, 2010
Get ready to have your ass kicked when this DVD of awesomeness releases to the home entertainment market. |
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Book Review: Undercover Girl #1: Secrets
by R.J. Carter
Published: September 28, 2005
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Publisher: Scholastic
Author:
· Christine Harris
Grade: A-
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The heroine of Christine Harris's Undercover Girl series greets the reader as a sort of adolescent blending of The Pretender and Alias. Jesse Sharpe is a child prodigy who has lived her whole life in the fishbowl of the secret organization known as C2 as part of their "Operation IQ."
Now Jesse has come to a turning point in her life -- an opportunity to go outside the confines of C2 and into the real world. It's her first assignment: befriend and protect Jasmine Carrillo from a kidnapping threat she isn't even aware of. It's a task fraught with more danger than Jesse can imagine as she uncovers evidence that makes her question the motives of C2, and whether the true target in this assignment is Jasmine... or Jesse herself!
The case also brings to the fore questions in Jesse's brilliant mind about family and history. Her sterile environment with scientists and carers has yielded her only a very few friends: two of them are her own age, but one of them has disappeared under strange circumstances. The third is the secretary to C2's head man, Director Granger, a kind woman named Providenza, or Prov for short. It's Prov that Jesse places the most trust in when she begins an investigative project of her own initiative:
Jesse leaned forward and whispered. "Is this room bugged?" Her breath did not disturb Prov's hair one bit. Prov used so much hairspray, Jesse doubted a hurricane would ruffle it.
Prov whispered back, "I presume you don't mean cockroaches?"
Jesse cupped one hand to her ear to mime listening.
Prov shook her head, but kept her voice quiet. "Director Granger is strict about that. He's fanatical about security. At the end of every day we back up files, twice, and someone sweeps these rooms for listening devices. The walls and doors are especially thick and constructed of special materials, so longer-range devices won't penetrate."
"What if the person sweeping for bugs actually planted one?"
"I doubt it." Prov frowned. "No, I'm sure of it. It's always a different agent who does it. They'd all have to be in on it to keep a bug here." Sympathy softened her face. "What's wrong?"
"Who am I?" Jesse knelt beside her. "Mary won't tell me. I don't know who my parents were or how the car accident happened. Do I have other relatives? How did C2 find me? I was only one year old. How did they know I was a prodigy?"
An exciting, fresh look at the spy thriller genre directed toward the younger audiences, Harris's Jesse Sharpe represents a new breed of anti-establishment, forced to question everything about her world, and everyone she's known. With short chapters and a terse, clean structure, Undercover Girl #1: Secrets proves to be a quick yet compelling read.
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