Take a Shelfie: Book Scavenger

Do your students love the fast-paced energy of Mr. Lemoncello's Library books?  Put this newer series, Book Scavenger, by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman into their hands and watch as they can't put these down, either.

Summary

Emily, her brother Matthew, and her parents move.
Every year.
Because their parents want them to live in all 50 states.  They enjoy it so much that they blog about it.  And Emily and Matthew are along for the ride.

So, when they move to San Francisco, there's nothing Emily's excited about - after all, why make friends when you'll be moving again so soon - except that San Francisco is the home of the online Book Scavenger game series.

And Emily loves that game, where books are hidden all over the United States and people leave clues that need to be solved to find them.

Soon after moving in, Emily meets her neighbor, James, and his cowlick, named Steve. As he shows her around San Francisco, she introduces him to the game and they discover their mutual love of solving puzzles and ciphers.  Then, they learn that Garrison Griswold, the owner of the publishing company and the game has been shot and is in a coma.  Will he survive?  Will his soon-to-be-released new game ever come out?

Emily and James go to the Embarcadero BART station to see where he was attacked.  As they look around, Emily spies a book hidden behind a bench.  It doesn't have a code or a clue.  It's an old, not well-known Edgar Allan Poe book, The Gold Bug.

Does the book have anything to do with Garrison Griswold and his attack?  With the game?  If not, why was it hidden so that it couldn't easily be found?

Emily and James soon discover that they aren't the only ones looking for clues to solve this mystery.  And those other people aren't so nice.  In fact, they're downright scary.

My Thoughts

Weaving together scenes from San Francisco, this adventurous book will make your students want more.  It was charming; I was surprised at how many times I didn't want to put it down. This book was given to me as a Christmas present from a student who had raved about the series.  I read it over Christmas break and then book talked it when we returned.  It hasn't been on the shelf since then.

And the cool thing?  Besides the fact that this is a growing series, there really is a Book Scavenger game your students can play.  How much fun is that?!

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